Can't Seem To Nail Down A Good Sunday Special

[indie_pizza]

Bought a indie store awhile back that’s been around for almost 20 years, but recent owner wasn’t around much and the store was falling apart. When I took over, they weren’t even open on Sundays. Now that we are, I can’t seem to find a special that will catch the “deal shoppers” that call in. I’m new to the business, so I’m steal learning the demos for each night and what people are looking for.

What kind of specials do you all do on Sundays and who is buying your pizzas?

 

[pizzapirate]

Anytime we do a “standing” special we include our biggest size with a simple salad and something high margin like breadsticks. Use high margin items with high perceived customer value.

 

[papajgirl]

IF the store was closed on Sundays, chances are there’s quite a bit of a religious following in town.

How about 10% off your order if you bring in a program from the service for that week?

 

[indie_pizza]

It is a religious town (grew up here), but they were closed because he couldn’t get enough good employees and the store was in general disarray. I just put a Sunday buffet coupon in the large Catholic church’s bulletin.

What I’m seeing though, is that we get a lot of inquiries over the phone, but not many sales. I’m not sure if I should be targeting families, armchair quarterbacks or what.

 

[paul7979]

It takes a LONG time to overcome the practices of the previous management. You will not turn Sunday into a rocking day tommorow, or even next month. It’ll take a long time for it to sink in to people that you are now open on Sunday. Don’t get discouraged, give it time, be patient, it’ll eventually come. All too often I’ve heard of places testing being open for lunch after years of not being open. After a month or two, they go back to thier old hours because they didn’t do much during their new hours. If they had stayed the course, eventually it wouls=d have picked up but most don’t give it enough time.

 

[Piper]

indie pizza:

I just put a Sunday buffet coupon in the large Catholic church’s bulletin.

This has worked very well for me. I have an ad that says “Come in after the 11:00am mass” and then a special that I change every so often.

People like to congregate and talk after mass. Perhaps you could do free coffee and doughnuts? I never went that route because our church already does it, but I wouldn’t mind people just coming and hanging out after mass. Our dining room is usually barren at 12:15pm on Sunday so it might as well get used. You could probably put it together for about $20.00 per week.

I would think a lot of people would eat lunch while they were there. For the ones that don’t - you’ve introduced your place to them, gotten them inside (very valuable marketing), let them smell the pizza and notified them that you are open on Sunday. When the time comes for them to order pizza, who are they going to think of first?