I get calls on top of calls with people asking what our “special” is. I tell them that everything on the menu is special. Apparently people just want me to call something a “special”. Can you give me some ideas? Do you guys combo stuff?..yada yada yada for X amount of dollars??? Thanks a bunch.
Mike
2 large 1 toppings for $xx.xx
Large 1 topping and 10 wings for $xx.xx
X-large 2 topping for $xx.xx
Been telling the same people the same specials for 11 years now
We have Lunch Specials and Daily Specials that we change up every quarter.
View them on my site at www.dontespizzeria.com
Any more info, just ask!
I do:
2 cuts and a med. drink
3 cuts and a med. drink
4 cuts and a med. drink
Stromboli and a med. drink
Sub and a med. drink
I discount .50 on each special.
That has been working really well.
We do:
2 Lg. 1-Topping $xx.xx
Lg. 1-Topping and order of wings $xx.xx
Any two subs $xx.xx
If it doesn’t sound like the customer is interested in any of those, right after they say “Ummm, I’ll call you back.” We say, “What kind of special were you looking for ?” We find out what they’re looking for and give them a coupon price. We don’t want them to hang up, we want an order everytime we answer the phone.
We have a service that faxes and e-mails our specials out to businesses around the area…we offer wraps, sandwiches, salads, pizza , calzones, rolls, pastas…everything is on the menu but the “specials” emphasize it…good luck
lol…love the fact you’ve been using the same specials for 11 years!
Girl called the other day “What’s ur specials?” From the hip…I said 2 Large 2-topping pizzas for $20…she said great!
Give me…
They just want to feel like they are “special”, heck you could probably charge them more and call it a special!
-Doug
I always ask “How many people are you feeding?” This lets me cut to what offer I currently have that will be best for that particular customer – a special for 2 20" pies isn’t what he’s looking for if it’s just for 2 people, but just right if it’s for 7 or 8. Then I tell them “Well, I’ve got a coupon out for (offer X), I could just give you that deal” I almost never lose a sale doing it that way.
1 toping large is $11.00 regular price
so when people call and say hey what is your special i just call my regular price special
Large 1 topping $11.00 
thats how you do it
I understand what you are saying, because most people will just take that as they just want to feel they got something for asking but I do not feel comfortable doing that. What if that customer comes in to pick it up and reads your menu? He looks you in the eye and asks why you did that?
I’ve had that done to me before and it just left me with a bitter feeling about the place when I later discovered there was no deal. Most will not notice, some will and “most” that notice will not say anything – they just may not come back.
I don’t know if I am right, but we do not have ongoing specials. We are not discount pizza and we are not cheap by any means. We use high quality ingredients and “big” portions on our pizzas – much more than what I see posted on these boards and what I see in the marketplace. When we do coupons, they are package deals with salads, wings, breadstix, cokes, etc. . . We never do coupons discounting our pizzas. We are not going to beat anyone on price and don’t want to get people used to not paying full price.
Like everyone here, we still get many calls asking what are specials are. Its pretty rare that someone does not order because we do not have a special. Many nights I will handle phones just to get a feel for things so I have this knowledge first hand. Usually when someone does not order they are Pizza Hut people – not ours. And yes, I have offered deals to these types of people hoping they might try us and experience the difference but we are still not even close to $5 to $10 pizza or whatever the discount chains charge.
We do run lunch specials as we are not busy for lunch save for office party days. I think its generally accepted by people that deals are to be had at lunch and not dinner.
What I was thinking to do is offering specials on specific products that we want to promote that are unique to us. They would not be permanent, but rather rotating to keep highlighting parts of the menu that people may not be aware of.
Way to go pizzapirate!..You are proud of your business style and wear it on your sleeve…When you have a price point and product that puts you higher than the market you can not hesitiate for a moment or your clients will sense the lack of confidence in your offerings…Keep up the good work!..
well my prices are cheaper then all competitors and our food is way better then theirs …i go to farmers market every couple of days to get most of our ingredients and our cheese is one of the best i would say and all of our other products that my mom preps all day for us… we have been increasing our prices and now we are almost at the same level in my area so thats the real reason i do that sometimes with people especially from hotels … now if they want more food then i would recommend one of our specials going on… ANd we always make everything the way we would eat it so i never tell them go cheap on the customers . NO make it really good and make the pizzas full of igredients.
but you are right pizzapirate…
but you are right about that. maybe i should just stop.
good lunch special over here is
Calzone 1 topping medium drink $6.99
specialty toppings excluded.
You have an awesome menu…easy to read and inviting…set up real nice.
I am now working on mine trying to get different ideas for the layout. You’ll laugh when you read I want to be open in 2 weeks! I’ve been saying that for the last 4 weeks now. This has been a total renovation of a vacant building.
Andrea
Thank you, and Good Luck 
As far is pizza specials we don’t give any specials under 20 dollars…We have tried advertising with smaller coupons and the people it brought in was not worth it. We offer a family meal(one topping pie, one topping calzone, any hero sandwich and a two liter soda) if taken fully advantage its worth is 30 we do it for 25 plus tax. the best part is alot of people order the plain pizza, plain calzone, and a meatball hero they are breaking even…
We also offer buy two pies get a two liter soda for free, but people kept ripping the coupons off of the box at the counter, which doesnt force them to come back for the deal…
As an indy I would say stand behind your product and service…If some one wants two pies for 12 dollars let them go to pizza hut…your regulars are what keeps you going.
**if you are going to run cheap cheap specials then do it sun-wed, thurs-sat should be good enough
I had a busy lunch and did not view “specials” as deals but more as “ideas”. What’s different or a good combo?
PD