I think Brad has it right. Bundle the special with something else all for one money. For example, order our special pizza and get a free order of our cheese breadsticks, or a free soft drink. That order of breadsticks might have a menu price of $2.50, so in essence, the customer is getting a $2.50 price break by trying your special pizza, but your cost is probably actually less than $0.50, plus, your customers don’t lose preception of the true value of your pizzas.
I also like to “chum the waters” a little too by making the special the week before it is offered, and giving out free sample slices, at randon times during the day, saying that this is a sample of next weeks special, be sure to stop in ant time next week to purchase one, it will only be available for a limited time. I like to add specials during the slower times to “spice things up”, or offer them only on the slowest day of the week to help even out sales for the week.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
