Skyrocketing Sales

Pizza Shop Talk The Think Tank
1

Sorry people to sound like bragging but I just have to let it out.

Just 6 weeks ago I mentioned that we hit $10K a week for the first time. I jokingly said that like making your first $ million the second comes faster and hitting $10K the next $1K comes faster.

Well to end this week we have eclipsed the $11K mark for the first time.

This is despite having a below average Saturday - down about $300 on what we have been averaging lately. Friday saw us go past $3,000 for the first time in a single night.

We have yet to bring in our new pricing and menu and are working on prices we inherited when we took over the store 18 months ago so it is not inflated sales.

In the past 8 months our sales have been steadily climbing and are now skyrocketing, all without any advertising, except for the recently commenced New Movers promotion (refer to previous posts on this subject). It is starting to kick in well and most are ordering more than the free pizza we are giving away.

At the moment we cannot afford to advertise, not because of the cost, but because we are having trouble servicing the business we have now due to only having 1 oven. Our centre is currently for sale and my lease is up in 9 months so we are at a standstill until the centre sells and we can expedite a new lease and then get extra ovens, a new make bench and POS.

We are getting people almost everyday telling us they are here for the first time because of recommendations, so I guess for us at this time it is our best advertising campaign.

Hope I didn’t sound like bragging but after all the s#*t I have gone through with staff problems over the past few weeks and the constant driver shortage I just had to go to the mountain top and shout it out.

To those who think they can’t make it take a big breath, re-evaluate your strategies and plans and dig deep and go for it. I was there and I know what it is like and now I’m seeing the results.

And as Nick and I say all the time … we are low IQ’s :smiley:

I am taking my manager out to a major golf resort on Wednesday for a round on one of the top courses around as a reward ( I might even let him win as well :wink: )

Dave

2

Congrats dave.

I have somewhat the same problem. I have outgrown my space and could not provide good service for increased business with my current situation.

Did you try to negotiate a new lease yet? I negotiated my lease 6 months before it was up. I needed to know where i was going to stand in 6 months instead of living in limbo.

The shopping center that i am in went up for sale like 3 years ago. I had no idea. If i knew, i would have purchased it.

3

Thanks RobT

Yeah I have approched the centre amanger who got the “no go” from the owners. I went over their head to the chief of leasing for the management company who told me about the sale.

They expect a sale within a month (I believe contracts have now been drawn up). He said that with our sales figures and growth they see us a long term tennant and will offer a new lease, with an option (not done with single tennants - only corporates and franchises) as soon as the sale goes through, so here’s hoping. But they won’t put that in writing until they know the centre is sold.

Until I have something concrete in black and white I can’t afford to take the chance on buying new equipment, especially if we go out there is nowhere around us to go.

Dave

4

We know you’re not braggin dave. It’s great to hear.

We share more negatives then positives with each other, so when there is positive news… share it !!

Hey post some pics of that golf course. I love to golf but now-a-days the only courses I see are in pictures. :cry:

5

Congrats, fellow dimwit!! and I cry bullsh%t. I am lving proof that there is always somewhere to go. It may not be easy or fin, but there is a place, given some creativity and sweat. Jut pray it takes less than 7 months :shock:

6

td_VP192

Have a look at this site. It shows the course.

www.burswoodparkgolfcourse.com

Looking at the toughness of the holes I think I’ll be taking my waterproof boots, a canoe, a shovel and extra time off … and that’s just to play 9 holes :oops:

I love to get out and play (badly) a round each week but sometimes it gets out to once a month. If we have a bad episode during the week we name the ball after it and belt the daylights out of it. Good therapy :lol:

Dave

7

Wow ! What a nice looking course. A great combination of natural beauty and the city skyline as a backdrop.

When you grab a scorecard let me know what the slope rating is. There is a ton of water on that course but the greens look HUGE !

Have fun ! You guys deserve it !

8

Hey Dave,Congrats bro you darn well deserve to SHOUT!When we hit good #'s in this ‘wonderful’ business you have to be proud.I sometimes want to share my good #'s but I am afraid I will jinx it.lol I’m one of those supersticious cats.As for getting out to the golf course I have to admit now I’m jealous. Keep up the faith.

                     Niccademo
9

Congrats on your business. It really is great when you start to get some traction! Regarding leases, (site selection and leasing is what I did professionally outside the pizza world) you are right on target trying to get the lease issue resolved ASAP. The closer you are to end of your lease the less leverage you have since the LL knows it will cost you money and time to get open elsewhere. With a long enough lead time (9 months is not very long) you can make a move less expensive and smoother.

You might consider insisting on a talking about the lease now. If the buyer wants you there, they could give a green light to the seller to start the process. (They still may not want to though) In any case, you want to get on the agenda with that new owner as soon as you can. Tell them your business is doing well and before you invest further in it you need to have some certainty on location and occupancy expense.

I don’t know where you are, but lease options are not just for national tenants. If you think this spot could work for you long term, ask for a 10 year lease with a couple of 5 year options. That adds greatly to the value of your busines if you ever go to sell.

Last item, if you have not done this a lot, and even if you have, pay an attorney to go over the lease with you but make sure it is one that does real estate pretty regularly. It is money well spent.

10

Thanks for the input.

I have taken it to them to try and get my current lease cancelled and get an new one NOW. The owner for some strange reason doesn’t want to draw up new leases while they are selling. It goes against all economic principals. The sale would be more attractive to a buyer with all tennants locked in with long leases as it gives a secure investment rather than have 2 or 3 in the wings.

Landlords of major centres are now only giving a straight 5 year lease without options unless you are tied to a national chain or francise.

The head of leasing has said they will afford me a 5year lease plus an option as well as we are showing rapid sales increases, they were highly impressed with the makeover we did with the store and like our constant improvements we do. What he is really saying is yeah we want you because your business is growing fast and we will be able to increase your rent big time.

The thing is where we are it is an ideal location right near the main entrance doors to the shopping centre and we have the 6 theatre cinema complex 50 metres down from us. If we went we lose the high traffic flow and the advertising and promotion the centre does which brings people in. Added to this is the 1,000 new home lots curretly under development less than a mile from us. A franchise group has already approached us about selling or assigning our lease so they would jump in if we went elsewhere.

Other big thing is we have no immediate competition of any sort outside of PH and Domino’s who are both about 1 1/2 to 2 miles away so we have a captured market as long as we continue to make quality product backed by quality service.

Hopefully the sale will be completed in the next month and then it is time to put on the fatigues, hob nailed boots and get down and get dirty fighting for the new lease.

I am in the process to put to them a new business plan for the future once the lease is secured - yes we had to submit our business plan to be accepted as a tennant.

Dave

11

Fantabulious on your sales! Last year at this time, our second summer into it, we rocked and rolled. The days following the 4th holiday were the lowest all year so it was NICE!

PD