Damnit. I’m sorry guys. I feel like I let you down. I’ve been doing this in my store and didn’t think to fill you in, well, because nobody asked…
In October (well, all year long actually; but really starting in October) you need to push your store as a delivery store, offering delivery specials and getting your customers into the habit of associating your name with pizza delivery. Once the hard winter months hit, they will have already gotten into the habit of having you bring pizzas to the house so naturally, when the weather gets bad, your delivery sales should increase while your carryout/dine in sales decrease. What I’m sure most of you are experiencing now are slow carryout/dine in sales and the same number of deliveries as normal, thus slumping sales overall.
I know. I know. NOW I tell you!
I’m sure most of you guys that are feeling the pinch right now usually have about a 50% delivery - 50% dine in/carryout mix. Come October, you actually want to get your delivery business up to around 65%. Once the cold stuff hits, your dine in/carryouts will drop and your delivery % will go up to around 70%-80%. If you plan it right, these colder months should actually be some of the best months of the year.
I don’t brag. I see no need in it. Please don’t think I’m trying to. I try to give everyone the facts as I experience them in my store. Here are the facts:
January just ended and we had a record month. We had 611 new customers generated and had over 1,400 deliveries, accounting for 72% of my business.
In all my years in the pizza business I never had to worry about slumping winter sales because the companies I worked for were already established as being predominantly delivery oriented. When I was introduced to the “independent” pizza market 2 years ago, I ran into this same problem. I took it for granted that sales would naturally increase in my stores (which did about a 50%/50% mix). They didn’t. They slowed down the same way yours are. So I put this lesson learned in the back of my head and really started pushing the following year, and especially now with my own store.
Again, I apologize. I try to help out as much as I can in here and I didn’t think to fill you in on my research. With that in mind, I will tell you this now… come April, start pushing the Hell out of carryout business with some good carryout specials. I’m sure you know spring and summer months can either be hit or miss. Most people that “hit” have superb carryout/dine in percentages. Look at your yearly marketing plans now and get prepared. Until then, I think pizzatime came up with the best suggestion yet:
This is the time to cut the fat and to increase efficiency with your business.
If your not planning your summer promos/game plan now, I suggest you do. Your spring marketing should already be done and ready to implement.
Those words are backed with some wisdom. -J_r0kk
(only joking). No really the introduction of daylight saving this summer has helped immensely.