Hi,
My name is Gary.I own a pizzeria in upstate NY. A business that does parties for kids recently contacted me. He is currently using a pizzeria close by that supplies all the pizzas at $9/pizza. The pizza is ok,not great.The service is ok,not great.He feels that since he pays him over $50,000 a year just for pizza, that he should be getting a much better deal from the pizzeria. Here’s where I come in. I have a chance to provide a much better pizza(he’s already tasted it) & I can provide the pizzas at as low as $8. This would be a great account to pick up, except for one problem.I am 20 minutes away which is out of my regular delivery area. For this account I might have to make several deliveries a day, depending on how many parties there are for that day. Has anyone else been in this situation. Also, if there some type of product that I could buy that I could keep at his location which would hold & keep warm a lot of pizzas at once so I would only have to make one delivery a day.
I really would appreciate any help. Is this worth pursuing or should I walk away from it.
Thanks in advance for your help.
What if you try one of those big thermal containers like the caterers use to transport food to parties?? I am not sure how long they keep things hot but might be worth checking it out to save some trips. Or you could see if the person you are making the pizzas for will go in with you and buy a regular food warmer for in his establishment. We used to be able to keep chicken and food items at 140 in it for up to 6 hrs without it drying out if you put loose covering on it.
20 minutes isn’t too far for that kind of sales!!
But, you’ve gotta make sure the quality will be there when it’s time to eat. Taking a large quantity once a day for the whole day’s use won’t work. It’s the quality that attracted the attention, you gotta keep that. Bring in an extra driver to service that account, probably not exclusively BUT make sure the drivers you send there are specifically trained in how to deal with that customer. you don’t wanna lose out on that due to crappy delivery attitudes. Also, discuss with that guy about tips for you drivers. maybe he won’t want to do it at all, maybe he will. You can’t force it, but the drivers need to know, and if they balk, well, maybe they don’t want to be your drivers anymore at all. (you WILL have a minimum $10 delivery charge which goes to the drivers right?? The account can be told it goes to the store to reimburse car expenses. They don’t have to know the entire $10 goes toward that.)
hth
There are some good delivery bags out there these days, but you may also want to contact some catering truck companies and see what options and prices are there. Also, maybe consider the purchase of a mobile kitchen/trailer and use it for this account and also it can be used for other events/festivals.
I would meet him half way on the price like $8.50 and then have him help out with the cost of food warmers. He probably is motivated on more things than price and quality if the other company is just so so he probably wants more than so so service someone that is more in tune with the business and he will be willing to pay for that extra attention and superior quality be proud of your quailty if you stand strong he will respect you more for that Perhaps do a if you by X in a year you pay X and if you go above that then he pays less give him an incetive to buy more from you. Spell things out so he isn’t giving you large orders with minutes notice etc