Dear Tom- My husband and I opened a pizza place on our own about 3 years ago! We have only dine-in and carryout! Sales need to increase if we want to stay in business! We have decided to try delivery! We have no idea what bags to use, how far our mile radius should be, etc. If we should do it all week or just the weekends! We live in the country a little ways so all the homes are spread apart! Can you give me any good advice!
Thanks,
Kristy Bamberger
Bambino’s Pizza
Kristy!
First, congratulations on being open 3 years! Trying delivery is a big step but if you play your cards right you’ll find that your business will probably increase 30% - 100%!
Let’s start with hot bags!
Most pizzerias use plain old red vinyl bags! Reason being is that they keep pizzas relatively warm and fresh for short periods of time, such as the time it usually takes to make a delivery! They’re not a huge investment at all! You can purchase a good vinyl hot bag for somewhere around $20, though prices will vary slightly! Other pizza places have followed the tradition started by Domino’s and went to hot bags that keep temps around 140 degrees! This setup is more expensive in the startup phase, but will give you pleasant results later on because you’ll always deliver pizzas at a nice, warm temp, no matter how long it takes to get to the customer’s home!
Now, let’s talk about delivery area!
When you establish your delivery area you want your furthest delivery to be no more than 8 miles from your store in each direction! You get any further than that and you’ll get yourself in trouble! One thing you should probably do is keep the delivery area small in the beginning and then expand as you start to get more comfortable with the operation! One thing that’s important when delivering pizzas is that your oven times need to be quick! You want pizzas coming out of the ovens in the 10-12 minute range so that your drivers can get them to the customer’s homes in good time! Such a strategy is extremely important when you’re trying to establish your new delivery business!
Finally, let’s talk about hours!
If you’re open 7 days a week then you should deliver 7 days a week! Opening and closing delivery days is way too confusing and you’ll find yourself at the same point your were when you started delivering because your customers just don’t want the hastle of having to remember which days they can order and which days they can’t! Keep it consistent and advertise it like crazy and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with your results! Hope this helps! -J_r0kk!!
I sure wish I could help you with your question, but it is a bit too far awide of my area of expertiese. I’m betting that if you repost your question as an open question that someone wil be able to help you out.
Good Luck,
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor