Re: How to change long running special? Help desperately nee
Thanks everyone for the great suggestions! We actually did raise the price once, about 4 years ago. When we started the Monday Special it was only $5.00! Raising it to $6.00 actually dropped sales by about 50 pies, especially in the low income areas. This may be the route we go to lower demand. You are correct that we don’t make any money on that day, however, this special has been huge enough that it takes care of a lot of our advertising thus saving money there. The other days of the week are still strong.
Our biggest problem currently is not food cost but production. We have tried having a large quantity of doughs pressed, sauced and cheesed waiting to go. We run into problems with very limited space and if the doughs are pressed to soon before baking, they tend to bubble pretty bad when they go through the oven. Keeping up with the demand is a nightmare and we have problems staffing that night. I thought with a recession it would be easier to find people who WANT to WORK. All I am getting are people who want a paycheck. I have actually had new hires who have never swept a floor in their lives!
Our concerns about the ‘economic situation’ are more to do with the customers perception of this special ending. ie. “Every time I blink, prices on everything have gone up. Now we are getting screwed out of our $6 pizza too”. I am confident that we have a quality product and I do worry about devaluing it in our customers eyes. But, we operate in a small town (a rural area with 3 other pizza shops), and deal with the same people all the time. We have been here 11 years and I would say most of my customers are regular enough that I know them by name. We truly want to offer them a good deal without losing our minds. We want the transition to be as pain free as possible for our valued customers, but especially for those of us answering the phones the first few Monday’s it’s gone
Whatever we do to change Mondays, we will absolutely communicate with our customers in advance. Most likely a "dear customer’ type letter.
Thanks again for the great feedback! I will take any suggestions anyone has. If nothing else, this has been a HUGE learning experience! Sorry for the long post.