I carry a 8" Personal, a 12" Medium, a 14" Large, and a 16" X-Large.
But I have been thinking about downsizing, I had a vision the other day, and I did some research, and I determined that the average food cost on my 12" Medium is 25%, but the 14" Large is 29%, and the 16" X-Large is 33%. I was considering de-emphasizing my XLarge, and Large, and focusing on my 12" mediums more.
What are your thoughts?
we have only 14 mediums and 16 inch larges now.
simpler that way IMO
We have four sizes.
16" X-Large
14" Large
12" Medium
10" Small
All of our advertising and marketing dollars go towards Large and Medium focus.
It’s funny how around here, people don’t ask what size the pizza are. They just wanna know how many cuts/slices are in each size pie. Growing up in NY no one EVER asked how many cuts came in a pie. Everyone knew there were eight slices and you could either get the 16" or 18", and either a half or whole sicilian pie.
My wife was suprised to find out that the mom and pop pizza shops in NY don’t offer ‘combo’ specials like you’d find out here or at the big pizza companies. No three for $5 each in NY. We bought six large pies with one topping on them for our family one year and it came to $80+.
Well the food cost percentage is higher on your XL, but which one has the higher contribution margin? That’s really more important.
We run a higher food cost on a 14" than a 16" as well. But we make more money on the 16". Like Big Dave always says, you don’t deposit your food cost percentage.
I made the mistake of calling my 12"-small. 14"-Medium, and my 16"- large. Everyone is confused because the other pizza place in town has the same size pizza, but there 12" is a med and the 16" is a x-large. I hate when people start with a med. and don’t offer a small, but it has back fired on me. Should have went with the same as them. And its to late to change.
I decided to avoid the whole "Small, Medium, Large…
I have 8", 10", 12", and 14" and that is what I put on the menu. When a customer calls for a medium I say “would you like a 10” or a 12"?"
We offer a 12" small, 16" large and an 18" x-large. When someone asks for a medium, we offer them the 12 " small or 16" large and more often than not the purchase the 16".
I’m more along the lines of Crusher and Daddio.
Being sort of an “old-timer” - in that I was in pizza 20 years ago (then left and have come back) - it bugs me that sizes have “shrunk”.
I decided to
a) Try to SET a trend rather than join one
b) Not play head to head with everyone else
and so
my sizes are intentionally DIFFERENT, and require continual explanation to our customers as they try us for the first time…
We offer three sizes with names like “Pretty Big,” and “Really Big”. This works out fine - if they want Medium, and order a Pretty Big, they are dazzled with the size. If they order “Really Big” and compare to getting a large elsewhere, they again are stunned by the size difference.
I’m definitely running higher food cost than some competitors, but I’m new, looking to gain regular volume, and ready to run a low margin while I build a reputation.
Pretty Big is a 16"
Really Big is an 18"
And we sell slices from a 20".
3 sizes
4 cut - 10"
8 cut - 12"
12 cut - 16"
I got away from calling then small, medium, large and extra large due to the fact that every pizza shop has a different name for a 16".14",12" 10" etc…
Hi. Here’s our sizes 10" small; 12" med; 14" large; 16" xlg; 18" xxlg. Many people ask how many slices. We do 6 slices on the 10", and the normal cut on the 12, 14 and 16 is 8. We can cut the 16 into 12 if they want. The 18 gets 12 slices unless it’s for the high school kids (we have one across the street) it’s cut in 8. Most places in town are the same but they don’t offer the 18.
We also cut our 12. 14 and 16’s in 8 slices.
It’s amazing to me how people cant understand how a medium and a large pizza can have the same number of slices and be different sizes. lol.
We carry 12" & 16". Ultra Thin, Hand-Tossed, Regular.
You are so right. It is absolutely amazing how many people call and ask how many slices are in a pie. I am so tempted to say, “8 slices, but if you can’t eat that much, I’ll cut it in 4!”
Of course, I wouldn’t, but it doesn’t stop me from thinking it! 
It IS funny.
My staff are trained to explain that we can cut our pizzas into however many slices they want - “how many people are you feeding”? - and to compare, roughly, our unique sizes to what they’re probably used to.
We got a request last night for 10 slices (no problem).
we have 10, 14, 18 all cut into 8 also to confuse the morons that can not comprehend the difference of the size of the slice
:shock:
tommieknows’ . . .
We run three sizes: 10" 12" and 16"
We also have a 7" made on pita bread . . . big favorite with kids.
We avoid generic, vague names like “Large” and “Medium” since there is no standardization. I have some brass macrame hoops in the store to show them the actual sizes, and that works out great.
My margins run pretty close on all of them, though . . . . with my 10" being intentionally leaner margin for an “affordable” opption in our town.