Do you discount carryout ?

[d9phoenix]

So i was wondering how many people discount carryout or run a carryout special (even if it is just 1 size) ?

Currently i run 2 sizes (we do it for all sizes but we only tell people about the 12" and 14"). I have been thinking about this for awhile now, and i can see points for doing it and not.

My biggest pro reason is when a customer orders carryout, i do not need to employ the extra body (driver) to finish the order. This also means i spend less on insurance, Hence the discount.

But the Con that keeps bugging me, is the customer perspective of seeing a tiered pricing and the perception that we are making deliveries pay more.

 

[bodegahwy]

We have coupons out there and if a customer looks they can always find one to use. They are welcome to use them on carryout too.

We have a delivery charge… so clearly that does not apply for C/O. I guess you could call that a discount.

 

[wa_dave]

We have the same price for pick up, dine-in or delivery, but delivery gets charged a delivery fee with half going to the driver and the other half to our operational expenses. We do not have a low minimum wage where it can be offset with tips so, on average our drivers are paid around $19 per hour, plus the delivery fee component. That is why we keep half the fee, but with delivery we still get less in the pocket than pick up.
Dave

 

[pizzapiratespp]

We have the coupons in the computer if someone ask for them. Its an extra $1 off and it seems to make them happy. Most people don’t ask.

 

[314]

Depends on who you competition is. Our brand is direct competition with Big 3. But I do not ADVERTISE a special price but it is hanging in my lobby. I make more money on a delivery even when you consider the cost of a driver and delivery service. When my average price per carry out is $14 but my delivery is $21 I know for a fact it does not cost an extra $7 to deliver.

Back to your question though - depending on your individual market is what you can deem appropriate. I do not see many true independents having a tier price and even a local chain like Abo’s does not - but if you are fishing in the big pond then you have to do what the others are doing or you get less bites. There are 3 -4 ponds out there. Big 3 is a 70 share while bottom feeders like Pizza Patron and Little Caesars are bottom 10 share. Indies are top 20 share. Choose your pond and use the right bait.

 

[bodegahwy]

We charge a $3 delivery fee. This is more than a dollar less than it costs us to deliver so as long we are using the same coupons for both we make more money on a carryout. We also find that many customers looking to save money will prefer carryout because they do not feel the need to tip or tip as much.

Our average tip for a delivery is about $5 so a carryout that puts a couple bucks in the tip jar on the counter saves $5-6. This price leverage can give us access to a different customer too. In our off season we promote carry-outs with a specific offer to attract this customer even though the offer is the same they could find on a delivery except for the delivery charge.

 

[GotRocks]

I was tempted to start charging more for our carryout due to the consumable usage (circles, boxes, etc etc) nearing $0.85 per pizza.

its more beneficial to our bottom line to have them dine in-house than it is for them to take it our the door, I see higher per guest averages, and no disposables getting used.

 

[jackaloo]

We do Carryout special 12" 1 top for $7.99 14" 1 top for $8.99
For delivery 12" 1 top is 9.49, 14" 1 top is $11.79 and add $2 delivery charge
we’ve had these carryout specials for several years and sell a lot of them.
Carryout accounts for 35% of our sales. Delivery is 65%

 

[bodegahwy]

We do Carryout special 12" 1 top for $7.99 14" 1 top for $8.99
For delivery 12" 1 top is 9.49, 14" 1 top is $11.79 and add $2 delivery charge

In our market, with our labor and occupancy costs I would go out of business with those prices.

 

[Grokster]

When we first purchased we used to offer 10% off for pickups. Nobody even noticed it and our average pickup was 25$ at the time.

I changed it about 2 years ago to any purchase over $30.00 gets a free 2 litre pop, since then my pickups have gone up considerably.

Considering I pay at most 1.87 + deposit/tax on them and we usually stock up when they are on sale for $1.00 ea (usually monthly)… We save quite a bit. It allows us to up sell and people see the free bottle of pop as a much higher value than it really is.

 

[GotRocks]

When we first purchased we used to offer 10% off for pickups. Nobody even noticed it and our average pickup was 25$ at the time.

I changed it about 2 years ago to any purchase over $30.00 gets a free 2 litre pop, since then my pickups have gone up considerably.

Considering I pay at most 1.87 + deposit/tax on them and we usually stock up when they are on sale for $1.00 ea (usually monthly)… We save quite a bit. It allows us to up sell and people see the free bottle of pop as a much higher value than it really is.

I may need to try that promo, it seems as if any freebie offered will get people flocking to you.
We started doing free cheese-bread (sub roll, garlic butter, mozz & herbs) with any pizza, and saw a huge increase.
I did the freebie because I had a batch of sub rolls that were cut too deep and a sandwich wasn’t holding together properly, so instead of tossing them out, we used them up and gained higher pie sales

 

[velvet]

my angle with discounted carry out vs delivery is the drivers: i co-own this place and it seems to find good,reliable drivers who willing to work! our number 1 driver gets up to 1500! he drives a bmw for deliveries (for crying outloud) and he always complains about doing little stuff as dishes or occasional swiping and (or ) mopping.other drivers even worse. got to the point that i would back up delivery times on purpose so customer comes in for pick up . now we do better business this place ever done-but- pick ups and dine in decreased and the deliveries went up. so i want to offset it back and keep or increase the business volume.