selling pizza in local bars

[BCPizza]

I have 2 new bars opening in my town in the coming months. I happen to know the owners of both bars and have a good relationship with both. They both have plans to do basic bar food. Was wondering if anyone has some kind of standing deal worked out with a local bar to sell their pizza in the bar as I would like to attempt this with one or both of these if possible. Just looking for ideas as to how to go about this???

 

[pizza2007]

Easy, give them your menu & magnet. Make sure they know your phone number. Other than that, there’s no deal to work out. They want pizza, they call you, just like anyone else.

Note that, if they’re doing their job, they’re promoting their food. But in kindness to their customers, they may permit outside food to be brought in. In those cases, having a good reputation helps alot.

Even though I have several bars for customers, I treat them no different than anyone else. Same food, same price, same service.

 

[BCPizza]

pizza2007:

Easy, give them your menu & magnet. Make sure they know your phone number. Other than that, there’s no deal to work out. They want pizza, they call you, just like anyone else.

Note that, if they’re doing their job, they’re promoting their food. But in kindness to their customers, they may permit outside food to be brought in. In those cases, having a good reputation helps alot.

Even though I have several bars for customers, I treat them no different than anyone else. Same food, same price, same service.

Right I understand all that… what I am wondering is if anyone is currently doing something like selling them take & bake pizza at a discounted rate that the can resell to their customers. I probably should have been a little more specific. Im thinking that if I sell them to be resold I probably have to properly label them.

 

[pizza2007]

BC I wouldn’t do that in a million years. My store, business, is in the business of selling fresh baked pizza. We’re doing okay with that. To change what I sell, would change my business, and why the heck would I change something that is working? So I could compete with the hundreds of machine-made frozen pizzas from Wal-Mart? No thank you. IMO, DISCOUNTING is your worst enemy. Discounting is an extremely difficult strategy that most simply fail to understand properly. It’ll lead you right OUT OF BUSINESS.

[Edited to add:]

What you should do, instead of selling a different un-cooked product just so they can cook and sell it, is work towards having them or their customers call you for pizza. In other words, they should refer you.

 

[system]

Ok call me crazy but as a restaurant/bar owner why would I “have your magnet and number” on hand to hand off food sales at my place of business? You have two NEW businesses that are going to have their own struggles to get going so why would they throw profits out the door for your food? If the customer wants pizza they will go to a place that sells pizza not a place that you can bring your own food too. I can see it now… delivery to table #11! LOL! Who do you tip the pizza guy or the server that brings your plates and silverware?

I think if you want exposure at these bars… and do not want to hassle with lables for resale… why not offer to set up pizza warmers and deliver pies for sale by the slice at the bar. Offer a percentage of profit sharing and if people like the slices…they will order from you outside of the bar. You spend a few hundred dollars per bar to get set up and hopefully works as advertising more than a revenue generator. Think of how much you spend on advertising and then look at the extended reach you will get by having people see your product first hand and be able to try it by the slice. Maybe offer free pizza on the opening nights at both bars. Give out some free pizza coupons or something.

 

[George_Mills]

Hi BC:

I would check on the regulations involved in selling a product for resale.

Check also with your liability insurer.

No problem if a customer in the bar orders a pizza from you. Lots of problems if the bar buys from you for resale.

George Mills

 

[aj453]

Your health code is going to have a problem with this. The only way you can get away with it is without any meat, and even then there are going to be hurdles. Doing this sounds like a perfect marriage, but as I found out, its not feasible.

 

[pizza2007]

Ok call me crazy

Okay. You’re crazy.

I know of 12 or more bars that have our menus and magnets on some of their coolers. As for delivering the pizza (or whatever), its reported to the bartender who directs it to the customer from there. Is it big time business? No. But it is some business and some advertising and some word of mouth. Is my store the only one? Of course not. Bars are in the business of selling liquor. Most attempt food sales in various areas for license issues not revenue.

There is no reason to sell slices to drunks. (hint, listen carefully) You can sell drunks the ENTIRE pizza.

 

[Rick_G]

pizza2007:

Ok call me crazy

There is no reason to sell slices to drunks. (hint, listen carefully) You can sell drunks the ENTIRE pizza.

We have even taken pizzas from a cancelled order to a bar and ask for “Mike” “Bob” or whoever you feel like asking for, when they determine nobody ordered pizza, usually somebody will buy it even if you have to knock off a buck or two.

 

[BCPizza]

Well thanks everyone for the input. I have delivered pizza to the current bars in town many times before I was just wondering if anyone was doing anything a little different. It never hurts to explore different avenues.

 

[system]

It is funny how you all react to someone bringing in outside anything into your establishment but when it comes to offering your menu in their place of business…it’s the norm! Great money maker…screw the drunks… why offer legit service when it’s a drunken free for all… :roll:

 

[system]

I have a better idea then. If you do not want to make this a joint venture of some sort with the bar business itself… then I would say stay out all together. Yes you can argue that if you have them eating they will stick around for drinks. The flipside that was noted is that a lot of these bars half to hit alcohol/food ratios with their license agreements. They do that in my town and it’s total bs but it is there. If I were that bar/restaurant owner and saw a dozen pizzas a night coming in my door and all I did was supply tableware and hoped they drank more…it wouldn’t take long for me to think…hmm, maybe I should put pizza on the menu. Why am I missing out on this profit? Now you have competition. There is another downside to all of this. What time do you close? 2am? Maybe 9,10, or lets even say 11 on Fri or Sat nights. So whats that mean…last pizza order for bar delivery 30mins before close? Limits your window and I doubt you will stay open later just for the bars sake. :shock:

 

[Rick_G]

We have five small bars in our delivery area. None of them cook any food to serve. Some have snacks available. They all have our menu and their employees and customers order frequently from us. It has never been a problem for us.

Rick

 

[Rick_G]

qcfmike:

It is funny how you all react to someone bringing in outside anything into your establishment but when it comes to offering your menu in their place of business…it’s the norm! Great money maker…screw the drunks… why offer legit service when it’s a drunken free for all… :roll:

There is a big difference here, If I showed up at a bar with a group of people with a six pack of Terrapin Moo Hoo I would think the bar owner would object even though he does not carry any Terrapin beers or any Chocolate Milk Stout. A diner owner would object if I sent someone on a run to sonic to get pineapple milk shakes.
On the other hand, a small bar that does not cook/serve food would actually be doing their customers a service by making a connection with a reliable source of quality food to be delivered.

 

[system]

Rick I am with you when we are talking about bars that are just bars. With no real food offerings…that’s fine. But I am guessing these have both food and drink and personally as an owner I would have issue with you ordering food on a regular basis outside my kitchen. I understand if the random pizza order comes in…but I would not want my servers pushing an outside supplier of food to my customers. Money is hard enough these days to get to the bottom line we all want…why let someone else take away from that.