At PJs, the 14" outsold the 16" (and the other size, 10", I think) by a landslide. Someone here posted in another thread that their 16" outsold their others by a landslide.
Do you “create” your most popular size by the advertising you do? If every special is a 16", I can see how you’d sell more of them.
Just thinking out loud again.
@ the store I had b4 the hurricane, we only sold 16" & 12", so we trumpeted the 16" as “Bigger Pizza, Better Prices”…
sad 2 say tho, most people are quite stupid…a large is a large is a large…you could call a 12" pie large and make a killing…
I’m thinking @ the new store 2 do a $5 12" pie as my “loss leader”…
the majors have set the size standards…creative marketing will get you further, but price shoppers will never understand
We offer all of our special combos in all three sizes (12,14,16). To a certain extent, I think you will sell the most of whatever you call “large”. We do have offers that are only valid on a large (16) and others that are valid on a medium or a large (14,16). Pan pizza uses a large doughball, but we only sell 5-10 of those a day.
Our year round location sells all three sizes and 16 outsells 12 and 14 combined. Right now the daily prep “build to” for dough sizes depending on the day of the week is about 22-33 small, (also used for calzones and strombolli), 16-32 medium, and 72-120 large doughballs. Those ratios are determined using sales history by size per thousand in forcasted sales.
To create the “build to” I took a 90 period and counted out the number of orders by size and created a prep spreadsheet in excel linked to the sales forcast. It takes the number of each size per thousand in sales (determined by the 90 day study) and applies it to the sales forcast that I make and divides that by the number of doughballs per tray.
The shift manager looks at the print out when he gets there in the AM which tells him how many trays of each size should be in the walk-in. He subtracts the number left from that night before and that is what he has to make.
Our biggest seller is the large (13") followed by Family (15") then Small (10") and Jumbo (18"). Fridays (busienst night we go through around 120 large, 36 Family, 25 Small and 15 Jumbo.
Our main deals are on Large with 2 for $23.90 or 3 for $34.90 with 2’s the main order. We only do a 2 Family deal @ $33.90. No multiples on Smalls or Jumbo.
All the corporates (PH, Domino’s) do 12" large and no other sizes. The large is really about 1/2" under 12" going by the size of their boxes compared to ours. Tey have made Large their size.
Dave
Most of our coupons are tied in with our large (14").
Pizza and wings(15.99)
Pizza and salad(13.99)
Pizza and breadstics(11.99)
Pizza, any panini sub, breadsticks and 2 liter(19.99)
These are just some of the deals we offer that make our large(14") the most popular size.
Our other sizes are 10",12" and 16".
I can’t speak to Dom’s but definately PH has more than one size of pie.
Sorry. I referring to the stores here in Western Australia not in the US. They used to have two sizes but just one now. Comes from one of our staff who is ex PH.
Dave
Question for you guys: why do you promote smaller sizes? If I am going to give a deal, I want to start with a higher ticket. I have found that the perceived value rather than the absolute price is what motivates. We do offer some coupons that are valid on a 14, but for the most part we focus the effort on 16 and multiple pie purchases.
I would think that a large segment of my customer base who are single, older couples or only looking for a late night snack would not be so interested in a 16" pizza AND something else. It gives a bit of variety and diversifies the market appeal. No one deal will attract all customers; more dollars in the door and more customers ordering are my goals, so different ‘deals’ to attract different customers. (disclaimer: I don’t use coupon deals, but if we were to start, this is the strategy we have discussed in our shop).
I should have caught the fact that you were outside the US, I usually pay more attention! That’s what I get for posting late at night 
B
That’s OK
You can now join Nick and me in the low IQ group 
Dave
Started, then got distracted, reading the book by what’s-his-face, the Dominos guy.
His original vision included eliminating everything but the 12" pie. This was when he was one or 2 shops, mostly serving campus business. He figured:
a) HUGE savings in supplies with one box size
b) Anyone wants more than a 12" pie gets two 12" pies
Someone talked him into leaving a 12" (medium" and a 14" large.
When I worked for Dominos in the US (MN) in the mid 70s we dropped the 14" pie and went with just 12" and 16".
PLENTY o’ room on the PMQ Short Bus 
LOL! Can I be the tresurary dude? 
B
What? You and Nick are the only two here that own a pizza shop? It’s in the manual, right next to vacation :).
Why ??? None of us have any money
Dave
I agree with the bundling idea but I think it’s also important to hit a variety of price points to attract different customers. Right now I’m offering price points at 9.97, 12.97, 16.97, & 19.97. Each one is a bundled offer. The only non-bundled offers I do are a Friday night special - large 1-top 9.97 (2.00 off), and box-topper of med 1-top 7.99 (also 2.00 off).