When's Your Busy Season?

[Tom_R]

Hey all!
I notice that most everyone here talks about wintertime being your busiest season. I don’t know if it’s the demographics, but for us, summer is our busiest time. We’re about five miles inland from the central Oregon Coast. The coast brings in a lot of tourism, mainly summertime. But our town is the bedroom community, so the tourists aren’t really our main customer base though it obviously stimulates our economy in our little town. I remember when my mom had her pizzeria up by Olympia Wa. the same rule applied ( this was in the '80s and '90s). Anyway, just curious.

Thanks
Tom R

 

[Daddio]

My busiest time is in the fall and winter. I am almost opposite to you Tom. In the summer everyone either wants to BBQ or leave town or both. In the winter they are so wrapped up in their busy schedules that pizza night is a welcome relief from the insanity of life.

On a side note: I was looking over my customer list today and chuckled at who some of my customers were. Here is a list from today I am sure you will get a giggle. 1) the owner of 3 McD stores, 2) the owner of Burger King, 3) the owner of Dairy Queen, 4) the owner of Eastside Mario’s, 5) the owner of the hockey arena concession, 6) the owner of D&D Catering, 7) the owner of Wendy’s. The funny thing is all of these orders were between 5:00 and 6:00 and for at least 2 pizzas. I guess we all need a break from our own food but it just struck me as real funny that all these people would pick the same day.

Back on topic: I find the hectic pace of life in an oil boom area is the reason things heat up in the winter. There seems to be more money than time for most of the people. I have regular customers that order on their special night because they are taking kids to activities and do not have time to cook between work and dance or music lessons or what ever the activity.

Being far enough north that the vastly different length of daylight hours also plays a part for me. In the winter there can be as little as 8 hours from sunrise to sunset and in the summer as many as 16 hours. I know for my family, before I got into the business, we ate twice as much pizza in the winter as we would in the summer. We had more time in the summer to do our own cooking/BBQing.

 

[Tom_R]

That’s funny you mention getting tired of our own food. We went to a BBQ-rib joint the other day, and my wife realized she had her work shirt on. The owners there had a good laugh, they said their kid’s bedroom is full of our pizza boxes!

I think one thing that gives us a boost in the summer is that a lot of our customers have family stay with them while taking in the coastal attractions. After a long day at the beach, or taking in a fishing trip on a charter boat, they order pizza. I’m working on building the winter sales this year by advertising more, we’ll see what happens. Thanks for the input Daddio!

Tom R