Our shop is located in a college town and our primary demographic is college students. We have done a great job at capturing the students & have a pretty good lock on the late night crowd.
That being said, I am looking for ideas to help grow our lunch & early dinner sales. We have been reaching out to the permanent community, & I know that market has a lot of room to grow, but I have not been able to find a marketing idea or tactic that has really made any headway.
We have blanketed the town with door hangers, which works well, but the sales all still seem to come later in the evening.
Having a thriving lunch business is all about three things:
Speed. Because people don’t have long lunch breaks.
Value. Lunch specials are a must.
Service. If you form a relationship with customers they will come back several times a week.
Early dinner usually picks up when school starts. Find a way to promote your business with the school. I give free meal coupons to the teachers to hand out as rewards for doing well in school.
What is your service format - delco, dine-in, carry-out only, etc? Doorhangers makes me think it’s delivery & carry-out you’re going after, is that a correct assumption?
We are 100% Delivery & Carry-out. We do not have a seat in the place. We are going to try & put some seats out on our sidewalk, but we are in Texas & right now that gets really hot.
We have offered some slice specials at lunch but they have not really taken off. We offer the custom slices Tom L. teaches. We usually can have you in and out in less than 10min. And our pricing gets you 2 slices & a drink for cheap.
For us, (we are also a delco) lunch is about two things: 1. Deliveries to businesses. 2. Slices.
We have a Hatco warmer in at the front counter and we put slices in there about 11-11:30 and refill as needed. That takes care of walk-in fast serve lunch business. Not a big deal for us but maybe worth $30-$50 per day with very little added complexity.
Lunch to businesses can be great. You need to be reliable, include plates, napkins, parm and pepper etc. Lunch deals can drive this business once you establish relationships with area businesses.