We just had our first pizza night fundraiser for the Little League football team in our city. Between all the teams there are about 250 families. Yesterday when they had equipment turn in they passed out a flyer to everyone telling them that Monday and Tuesday we woudl donate 15% of their bill to the club. We got a grand total of 7 orders from them! I set only 2 rules. 1 was that they couldn’t stand outside my door and pass out flyers telling people to say they were with the club. The other rule was that they couldn’t use any other coupons of discounts.
I heard from one mom who said that a lot of people were not coming because they couldn’t use coupons so they were just gonna make a donation instead of get pizza. I was told by another mom not one donation was received yesterday.
One lady called and tried to use a coupon I had put out for free salad, breadstix and 2 liter. I told her she could use it but I couldn’t also donate 15% so she was better off saving it for next time. She said the heck with the 15% give me the free stuff!
I had double staffed thinking that even if just 10% of the parents came that would be 25 extra orders. I was secretly hoping for a meager 20% participation rate. I am truly disappointed! I can’t afford to give the people the $6 off coupon from the Entertainment Book (worst customers in the world, but that is a different thread) and then ALSO give the club 15%. My sons school PTA wants to do a night coming up soon too, but I am pretty down about the whole idea. Any thoughts>???
The idea is a good one so just because you had one lousy turn out don’t let it ruin it for you.
Definately do the pta. Plan on being slammed!!! Don’t second guess it, plan on it.
Maybe add a catch do different color flyers one for each grade. The grade with the most turn out gets something extra?!
The rules are good. The PTA I am sure will be able to pass out a flyer for kids to take home. You can box top the week before. But be careful you are gonna get killed!
Actually, I’m going to put in my two cents here for a sec…
The idea was good (i.e. Pizza Night), however the execution was poor, so let me explain a little:
When you do a pizza night the message should NOT be “a portion of the sales will go to the team”. It’s unfortunate, but nobody really cares about that message. It doesn’t really get them up and want to go out and have pizza.
For your peewee football team, the message should’ve been something like, “20% turnout and the team gets a FREE pizza party compliments of us!” or “Pizza Wars: Offense versus Defense! Which side is the best?”
Just remember, the whole message is about the prize. And the prize is pizza from you where the winning team can razz the losing team, or they can pass out little certificates saying which side is better. Kids LOVE pizza parties. What better than having a pizza party with their entire team at your place of business. Do you realize how many REGULAR CUSTOMERS that would create? If you don’t offer dine in service, then have it at a coaches house or something (and bring flyers).
How many kids on the team? 30? 4 kids per pizza, so you’re looking at 8 pizzas? 8 pizzas x $2.10 = $16.80 in food cost. I think you would have sacrificed the $16.80 if you could get an extra 25 orders.
So, unfortunately this post might be a little too little, and a little too late. But maybe it will help in another fundraising effort later on…
Fundraising nights are AWESOME! but you’ve got to make sure you generate the right message. Create a competition! Everbody loves a competition. That’s your hook, and you’ve ALWAYS got to have a hook. Hope this helps. -J_r0kk
When we did the pizza nights we allowed coupons. We don’t have a $6 off coupon out there though. As for the PTA you will get a better response with the schools. It is a fundraiser that the kids don’t have to go out in the neighborhood, the parents can do it in their jammies. Get your PTA organizer to enlist the help of the principal, teachers, and get more than one flyer to the kids to take home. One principal even used her weather emergency call system, the parents got a call at 5pm reminding them that Pizza Night started and not to forget to order. Follow up the next day with the check and enthusiam. The parents love this fundraiser over selling coupon books and giftwrap! I have done 17 schools in our area. Some were big money and we got slammed and some were just perfectly steady. Good Luck Make the flyers fun!
I have done over 500 pizza night fundraisers over the 15 years I have been in the business. I have always looked at my profitability, in the store I am in and have donated that amount. The more you can give, the more participation you will garner, and the more goodwill you will earn. My present store profits 25% at about $5,000 a week. (very low BE). So I am donating 25% of Sales on a specific night to the local high school marching band on their school nights. It doesn’t matter who orders either, a donation is a donation! If you get no participation, the 1st time, but you donate $100. to the organization, they will probably be guilted into greater participation the 2nd time. Don’t give up just yet, Give em three strikes, before you nix there pizza night. I have learned to find 3 to 4 organizations to do this with, and have a pizza night in different sectors of your marketplace every week. So if you have four elementaries, in your delivery area. contact each schools PTA and develop a rotation. I have found that I get better bang for my buck by sponsoring the Elementaries, and Music Programs than I have from sponsoring sports teams. If you can’t get them to participate in a pizza night, get them to sell BOGO cards for $10. each. every person who buys one will be one less person your competition take from you.