Military Post

[j_r0kk]

Okay,

 Here's a question.  Like I've said before, I'm new to running a "military store", so I need a little help...

We’ve got an event coming up on October 21st and 22nd on post. It’s called the post-wide garage sale. Sure, it doesn’t sound like much at all, but it pulls thousands of people from all the neighboring communities onto the military post that weekend. Naturally, my sales are going to be horrible that weekend unless I come up with a clever idea to get onto post and somehow, someway, sell pizzas (like a booth or something).

Ideas? -J_r0kk

 

[russ_cox]

How far are you from the post? We are about 15 minutes from the Main Gate at Ft Hood. We have had booths in the past and have done very well. The thing is, you need some extra people at your store to help out. You need an extra driver to help deliver. You will need an extra insider to help with pizzas. We usually send 5-10 pizzas at once, depending on traffic. Don’t forget, with all those extra people comming in and out, the lines get pretty long at the check-points. Don’t want the pizzas to get cold on the way there. Anyhow, we sell pizza by the slice for $1.50 each. Even if you don’t make a ton of money, the exposure is GREAT! Have plenty of take out menus with you.

 

[fastbreakrob]

When I was in the Navy, we used to have a guy drive up and down the Piers at the Naval Station with Pizza & Subs in his car. The ships would all make an annoucement for the guy “Pizza and Subs available on the Pier”,
and he would stick around for about 5 minutes. Usually somebody on duty would always go buy a Pizza or Sub. I know I had a few.

I know this doesn’t have to do with your weekend event, but maybe you could market your pizza to those on duty, who can’t get off of base on the weekend. Its always nice to not have to eat at the galley, especially when your stuck on duty after a deployment.

Also you could contact the base MWR (Morale Wellfare & Recreation) department, to see if you could advertise in the barracks in exchange for a percentage or donation to goto the MWR fund. Most barracks rooms are setup just like a hotel room. There should also be individual MWR reps for each command within the base. I’d suggest contacting those folks, and let them know you’d be happy to supply pizza for any events they have. Occasionally, we would shut down the galley on the ship for different reasons but we would order pizza when the galley was closed.

And one more thing… Usually a command will prepare a Welcome packet of information for those transferring to a new duty station. You might be able to get something put in those welcome packets.

• Rob

 

[j_r0kk]

russ and rob,

Thanks for the insight. I think I’m going to combine your ideas to get a result I’m looking for. Very imformative. Thanks. -J_r0kk