Need help

[system]

Hello every1,

Im new to this site. Anyway I just opened a Pizza /BBQ takeout abot 6 months ago. When we opened we didnt have a grand opening and it was crazy were making 7000 per week . After the 2nd month it dropped to 2000.00. Now were averaging 2000. I had to get rid of my partner because he wasnt doing the right thing. We were running out of food the first few days. Now business is no where to close to what we did. I advertise in the weekly paper , give out menus w/ bounce back coupons, give out discount cards, and flyers. What should I do to get more biz? People love our food we have repeat customers we have cheap prices , we have at least 2 new customers everyday, but its still not eough. On top of all that I have a customer that told me hes opening up across the street doing BBQ/and a bar altogether. Which will affect the little biz I have. I guess either he thinks Im no good or he thinks Im doing great I dont understand this biz. This was my partners supposedly specialty (13 yrs) experience. But now its all up to me hes gone. What should I Do?

 

[PizzaManMike]

open a bar in your place before that asshole customer of yours does… maybe have a grand opening, j_rook had a great i dea on oneof his posts… host and all you can eat pizza or bbq contest…get the radio and or newspaper there

 

[system]

thanks I need the vote of confidence but the way biz is going I cant afford to get a liquor license. I do agree with the pizza contest that sounds fun. Im going to definitely do that. Is it normal for biz yo decrease after ur first 2 months?

Thanks 4 the advice

 

[PizzaManMike]

its definatly normal for business to slow down after the frist 4-8 weeks of opening, but yours seemed to drop drastically a 5000 dollar a week loss is alot… there must be something else behind it, try customer comment cards… see what kind of feed back you get. Do a direct mailing with a revised menu, maybe a business card magnet and a customer information card. Tell them if they bring back the card filled out they will get free garlic knots. then enter the info into your POS and you will be able to stay on top of direct mailings in the future. get their email address also. when i open i am going to deliver about 2000 “personalized” letters into the area announcing my store explaining my business and what it has to offer and announce a grand opening date and hopefully that will kick up a great start and a loyal following.

 

[j_r0kk]

PizzaManMike

Another thing you can do that worked for me in the past is printing up 50-100 flyers. These flyers should have your logo, your phone number, and a message. The message should read something like this:

We’re almost ready! But we’re going to need some help. Once we open our goal is to prepare the highest quality food matched with the highest quality service. We’ve been training rigorously the past couple weeks to make sure we’ve gotten all systems in place but we need somebody to try it on. That’s where YOU come in:

You’re going to be the first customers to try us out! We want you to call us between the hours of 5pm and 8 pm on Monday, January 29th and order some pizza. You’re going to be my test market. Your incentive to call: THE PIZZAS ARE FREE! The only thing we ask is that you fill out the customer comment cards we provide with the pizzas and let us know how we did. It’s very important that we do this right because we want to be your favorite hometown pizzeria for many years to come.

So remember, on January 29th, don’t worry about the cooking. We’ll take care of it for you. Just call us at xxx-xxxx between the hours of 5pm and 8pm to order the best pizza in town… and it’s FREE! Looking forward to seeing you then and… wish us luck!

Sincerely,

PizzaManMike

What this will do is create a sense of ownership with the customers. If they like it they will brag on you so hard right before you open, because in essence, they’re bragging about themselves because they got to try you out before anybody else did. You think word of mouth advertising works? Try this then. And if human nature proves correct, most will be there opening night anyway along with everybody they talked to.

-J_r0kk

 

[PizzaManMike]

that is one fine piece of writing… i will def be using that or something very close to it!..thanks j_rokk

 

[GT1]

those guys are right…you ned to find out from your customer base why they stopped coming after the opening. something has got to be off for your business to drop off to be that drastic. i would expect to be doin around 4 to 5 k a week minimum after opening with 7k… how is your service, what do people say about your food…have someone go in and do mystery shops to get feedback. if you have a pos then go back to customers that ordered once and stopped and find out why…do it quick though you’re not gonna survive long on 2k a week.

 

[j_r0kk]

PizzaManMike wrote:

that is one fine piece of writing… i will def be using that or something very close to it!..thanks j_rokk

Thanks man. I came up with that this morning typing on the keyboard with one hand and eating a bowl of Raisin Brand with the other, and believe it or not I seriously crapped out in English Composition in school. -j_r0kk