Worst year EVER 2010!!!!

[lukenick1]

Not only did I lose both my parents at very young ages and within 2 weeks of each other this year, now our business is going down hill. We own a pizza shop and business is getting worse and worse this year. Are people not eating as much pizza these days?? I need to start cutting back and have no idea where to begin. This year has been the worst!
Thanks for listening........

 

[disneydreamersx4]

I am so sorry for your losses, both parents, that is so sad
I know we don't get pizza out anymore, we make it at home to save money so that's probably what alot of your customers are doing. I hope things pick up for you.

 

[Jenn4615]

I am sorry for your loss...
I am with you on 2010...lets get it out of here Now! I AM DONE WITH 2010 and all the bad... Heres to 2011!!
Hugs!

 

[vickyBaby]

I'm so sorry for your loss, that is awful.

What state is your business located in?

Are you strictly carry out or do you have tables to eat in? If you do, are you promoting yourself as a BYOB? People don't have as much money to spend but still want to eat out. Promoting yourself as a BYOB can bring clients in.

Are you advertising? Couponing? When your pizza boxes go out, do you tape a coupon to the top to bring people back?

Walk around to the local businesses and offer them a 10% discount flyer for a first time purchase so they will try you out. This will build repeat sales.

Do you have a slow night? Make that a "cash and carry" night at the pizzeria. Price your pie really low so you can generate business on a night that is normally dead.

Do you have a website? Facebook page? Change it daily promoting specials for the day. Include this information in advertisements.

 

[kelly1218]

I'm so sorry for your loss, that is awful.

What state is your business located in?

Are you strictly carry out or do you have tables to eat in? If you do, are you promoting yourself as a BYOB? People don't have as much money to spend but still want to eat out. Promoting yourself as a BYOB can bring clients in.

Are you advertising? Couponing? When your pizza boxes go out, do you tape a coupon to the top to bring people back?

Walk around to the local businesses and offer them a 10% discount flyer for a first time purchase so they will try you out. This will build repeat sales.

Do you have a slow night? Make that a "cash and carry" night at the pizzeria. Price your pie really low so you can generate business on a night that is normally dead.

Do you have a website? Facebook page? Change it daily promoting specials for the day. Include this information in advertisements.

Great suggestions!!!


We get pizza probably about once every two weeks....but we've had to stop buying from the local shops. Their prices are double the Dominos $5 pizza deals.

 

[Lisa_M]

I'm really sorry for the loss of your parents. I can't imagine going through that.

I'm also sorry to hear that your business is struggling. We still eat pizza, but around here the only place that I LOVE is too far away to get pizza from. If you want to boost your business you could try putting coupons in the local paper or have specials printed in the paper.

You could try using groupon or restaurant.com. One of the pizza places we tried in the past had a $10 certificate on restaurant.com. We figured we'd try it and even if it stunk, we weren't out too much money.

If your local school's PTA sells discount cards, you might think about joining that, like 10% off. Or you could ask the school if you could give certificates for a free personal size pizza to the kids who make honor roll. Pizza Hut used to do this when I was a kid and obviously the family is going to buy more than just the one personal sized pizza for the kid.

I hope things get better for your family and that you have an enjoyable holiday.

 

[lukenick1]

I'm so sorry for your loss, that is awful.

What state is your business located in?

Are you strictly carry out or do you have tables to eat in? If you do, are you promoting yourself as a BYOB? People don't have as much money to spend but still want to eat out. Promoting yourself as a BYOB can bring clients in.

Are you advertising? Couponing? When your pizza boxes go out, do you tape a coupon to the top to bring people back?

Walk around to the local businesses and offer them a 10% discount flyer for a first time purchase so they will try you out. This will build repeat sales.

Do you have a slow night? Make that a "cash and carry" night at the pizzeria. Price your pie really low so you can generate business on a night that is normally dead.

Do you have a website? Facebook page? Change it daily promoting specials for the day. Include this information in advertisements.

Thank you so much for your suggestions. We have been in business there (in CT) for 15 years now and we do have some dine in. We are mostly a take out/ delivery place. We have our devoted customers but there is so much other competition in town its getting harder and harder to please everyone. We do have a website and facebook page and have done a ton of advertising. I think my husbands biggest mistake was removing our ad from the yellow pages. He disagrees, as alot of places are in the same boat as us right now. He recently put a coupon in a flyer that goes out to every home with a discounted large pizza valid on our slowest night and did not get ONE back. We were voted best pizza many years ago and have not changed our products. It's so scary.

 

[katman2540]

If you want to PM where you are I love a good pizza place and am always looking for one when I am on the road here in CT. I drive around fixing stuff all day and like to try new places.

 

[dvcgirl]

Thank you so much for your suggestions. We have been in business there (in CT) for 15 years now and we do have some dine in. We are mostly a take out/ delivery place. We have our devoted customers but there is so much other competition in town its getting harder and harder to please everyone. We do have a website and facebook page and have done a ton of advertising. I think my husbands biggest mistake was removing our ad from the yellow pages. He disagrees, as alot of places are in the same boat as us right now. He recently put a coupon in a flyer that goes out to every home with a discounted large pizza valid on our slowest night and did not get ONE back. We were voted best pizza many years ago and have not changed our products. It's so scary.

Sorry to hear that your business has slowed a bit.

I would disagree on the yellow pages though. I can't even remember the last time that I looked in the yellow pages for anything. And pizza is really a "word of mouth" kind of product. Everyone has their favorite pizza place.

I live in a town in NJ where we have easily over 10 pizza places....and probably another 10 that serve pizza, but it's not their main menu item. I don't know how they all stay open.

I hope business picks up for you soon!

 

[minnie1928]

Thank you so much for your suggestions. We have been in business there (in CT) for 15 years now and we do have some dine in. We are mostly a take out/ delivery place. We have our devoted customers but there is so much other competition in town its getting harder and harder to please everyone. We do have a website and facebook page and have done a ton of advertising. I think my husbands biggest mistake was removing our ad from the yellow pages. He disagrees, as alot of places are in the same boat as us right now. He recently put a coupon in a flyer that goes out to every home with a discounted large pizza valid on our slowest night and did not get ONE back. We were voted best pizza many years ago and have not changed our products. It's so scary.

Perhaps the problem with coupons is that people don't have them on them. Say for example you have a late night at work and want to pick up pizza on the way home, but the coupon is at home...kinda defeats the purpose.

We have many pizza places around my house. I'm new to the area so I don't have a favorite yet, but here are some of the deals that got me in the door:

!. $5 pizza on monday nights, no limit
2. $7.95 pizza with x% going to the local schools (PTA fundraiser, no coupon needed)
3. $25 meal deal - 2 large pizzas, salad, bread and 2 ltr soda

Another place honors competitors coupons, which while I haven't used this yet, does seem intriguing.

Keep in mind another way is to cut operating costs. Reprice all your supplies, call vendors, negotiate discounts, utilize energy saving CFLs, eliminate the little plastic supports (why are they needed?) in the middle of the pizza, etc. Take a critical eye at everything and you might be surprised at what you'll find.

 

[disneydreamersx4]

another deal that I loved when we ordered pizza is you could call on a certain day let's say at 5pm and you get the pizza for the price of the hour so $5 then 6:15pm you pay $6.15

 

[maggiew]

Sorry to hear that. I hope 2011 is better for you!

Too bad you don't live near us. We get pizza at least once a week.

Maggie

 

[OceanAnnie]

I'm sorry for your loss. Both parents, so close together. I'm sure it has been very hard.

I hope things improve for your business.

I've seen some promotion where if you buy "so many" (like 5) you get the next one 1/2 price or free. Different places do different things. Punch cards. People really like those. I've seen them in use in lots of businesses.

I've also seen promos, buy a pizza + something and get a free liter coke.

Discounts for certain nights.

Is there a bakery near by? Maybe you could cooperate/partner with a bakery. If a customer buys your pizza they could receive 15% or 20% off of a bakery product. That is if the bakery would do the same for you. Support each other.

Contests/Give aways. I've heard on radio show promos where eateries will sponsor a business lunch for an office (small offices) drawings or contests. It's free advertising and has good potential for increased sales.

Hope this helps.

 

[JoiseyMom]

We have tons of local pizza places and I get it from various ones, depending on where I am and who delivers and the price. On certain nights certain pizza places have large cheese pies for 7.99 or 2 for 15.98. No coupons and I usually get it on those nights. I will use coupons other times.

There is one restaurant that does take out and dine in, and their food is the best in the area, and they never have any coupons and they don't deliver. I have to say that for saving money, I go to the other places, whose food is good, and is cheaper.

 

[IDoDis]

Local places around here are doing cell phone coupons. It saves them money and the customers always have their coupon with them! I'm not sure how you set it up, but usually there's a quick 4 or 5 digit number that you give your customers to type into their phone. Then they automatically get the coupons. Sometimes it's B1G1F, or a free drink, or bring in your grandma for a free meal, etc... The coupon would only be good for that day or for the next day. It works for me when I get those texts from my favorite place. Sometimes It's a free milkshake from Chick-fil-a, but then we end up buying food to go with it.

 

[kmvand1]

I can't agree with you about 2010. The worst year in a long time for us, my husband lost his job after 26 years. He also lost his parents within 10 months of each other, both unexpected. I can only hope things will look up for all of us next year.

 

[VAfamily1998]

We tend to eat a lot of pizza when we are on vacation/staying at a hotel, and we almost ALWAYS ask the front desk for a recommendation on a good pizza place.

Are there a lot of hotels near you where you could "get in good" with the front desk staff? Maybe stop by one night with a free pizza and a bottle of soda for the staff to snack on, and some coupons/fliers for them to give to their guests when asked about local places to eat?

 

[southern_redhead]

I'm sorry for your losses and your business slowing down. People are probably right about many customers going to eating at home due to cost. Do you deliver lunch? Are you near many local businesses? I know where I work we can't leave for lunch, any time an eatery brings us fliers with "all day free delivery" they usually make many trips to see us some of the have free delivery if you order a certain amount and they usually do a brisk business too as several staff will go in together to place an order large enough to qualify for delivery.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Too many cookie cutter pizza places are moving in, and others are moving out. Little Caesar's moved in with their nasty $5 pizza 2 months ago, Papa Murphy's and Cici's both closed up weeks later. The chains started the $10 large deal, further huring mom and pop shops. Our pizzas come from LaRosa's (family chain in Cincinnati) while in that area, or from our kitchen-chain pizza sucks.

You need to determine if you want to focus on price or quality first and go from there. Daily specials that people remember would help both on the price and quality side. I agree with some type of school/church promotion. If the child comes in, the parents are likely to buy more.

The first place I look for a pizza shop while out of town is a coupon laying near the hotel front desk, the second place is the yellow pages.

 

[crisi]

Sorry about your loss.

We eat a LOT less pizza now because I'm gluten intolerant. No pizza crust. And gluten issues are getting diagnosed more and more often. That, plus lactose issues becoming more common - a lot less pizza.

One of the local pizza places is driving a lot of new business by offering gluten free crusts. They started only offering them one night a week, but its now become regular - and popular - part of their business.