Worst year EVER 2010!!!!

[NHWX]

Another school related fundraiser - our high school's football team sold a card which would give anyone who bought a takeout large pizza a 2L soda. I'm a 4-H leader and, of course, we'd never order just one large pizza. More often than not, we'd order 5 pizzas, a sub and a couple bottles of soda. But that initial free soda was enough to make it just a bit less expensive than the other choices nearby.

This year, the team was selling the cards for much more and we didn't buy one. Perhaps some other factor, like this, might be denting your sales?

NHWX

 

[QVCshopper]

I think you should use Facebook to market yourself more. Check out "The Handcrafted Cookie Company" in Phoenixville, PA. They post pictures of their cookies, specials of the day, and well as deeply discount their cookies on slow nights. I think it's a good way to get a good client base. Also, the pizza at the time you call is a great idea--I just tried a new place b/c of that deal. Called at 5 pm, paid $5, etc.

Good luck!!! So sorry about your parents; that's one of my greatest fears.

 

[OceanAnnie]

We've gone to some places that do some unique things. One place has a hall of fame, where the customers have their pictures on the wall for one reason or another.

One place we've gone to has string lights in the ceiling (year round) and lots of memorabilia on the walls and somehow it works! It looks inviting and cozy.

I've been places where there are bulletin boards near the register where people put up their business cards. Some smaller places do that. It gives a sense of community. I've also seen fish bowls filled with people's business cards. I think there are drawings from time to time for freebies from the establishments.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

find the closest middle school or high school. donate pizza for their teachers for conference night. At our middle school, it took 12 large pizzas to feed the teachers.

When you deliver the pizzas, make sure to deliver coupons or flyres with those pizzas.

We had a pizza place donate pizza to our teachers on conference night and the teachers were so appreciative that they go to that pizza place all the time. They also placed a thank you to XYZ pizza place in the school newsletter (free advertising) and now parenst go there too.

Another idea -- arrange with a big school that on this certain night (pick ONE night) we will give you 5% of our proceeds. That way, they get all their kids to come and eat at your place and you get business. Then if they like your pizza, you will get repeat business.

 

[crisi]

Thank you everyone the support means a lot

Thanks also for the feedback on our Pizza business. Some great suggestions are coming thru for us and I'd love to hear more. I really like the idea of offering a gluten free crust but it may be a challenge to find the ingredients from our distributor. We will have to look into it. I think that would definitely make us stand out from the rest!

Around here, the places offering it are getting the crust from a local gluten free bakery. GF pizza crust is pretty good. But you'll probably need to charge a premium for them - GF is still more expensive.

Also soy cheese. If you do individual pizzas and offer them GF and/or lactose free, those families having an allergy in the house will still be able to get pizza.

 

[EeyoreEma]

I'm so very sorry for your loss.

Not sure if the schools around you do this, but here the high school sells discount cards featuring different local businesses. Our favorite local pizza joint offers but 1 pizza get a smaller size free. That's part of what keeps us going back, as there are nights it is not as good as others. We also don't go as often as we used to, but part of that has been adding our kids into the mix.

 

[Them!]

double post

 

[Them!]

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.

I wish you a better 2011 and sorry about your loss. I wish I still lived in CT so I could eat at your pizza place.
I totally would go with Groupon. I use their deals all the time and would drive out of my way to get a good deal.
Good luck!
Also....check your Yelp reviews....that may help???

 

[dclfun]

So sorry to hear about your horrible year. I can't imagine losing both parents, and esp. since they were a young age. It's always harder during the holidays too.

Meanwhile, I live in Orlando where the pizza options are plentiful. Our favorite place is a chain- Giordano's for their stuffed crust pizza but they also offer excellent salads, lasagna, other italian pastas and breadsticks...and best of all, ice cold beer with a special pitcher rate when we dine-in. They are expensive but delicious. I'd rather spend more money to have a really good pizza vs. just picking up a cheap dinner. Little Caesars, Papa Johns, and Cici's come to mind- blech. There's a new non-chain local place next to our Target that has some introductory pricing and we want to try it as it would be very close to home and convenient. If it's good, I'd definitely be back as everyone in my family loves pizza and aren't fond of the frozen ones. When my kids were in school we frequented the local pizza place that offered a % back on a certain night to their school. The school did the advertising and we felt good about supporting the school while having a nice meal that I didn't have to cook! I also love the idea of the gluten and lactose free pizza options. Anything to make you stand out above the competition is a good thing. Is there a Costco or Sams close to you that sells pizza? If so they might be taking some of your business as I know Costco has a $7.00 super-size pepperoni pizza that you can take home or they can bake it for you in the store for the same price. I always see lots of people with that pizza in their cart as it's easy to just toss in with their other groceries vs. having to make another stop. I wish you the best of luck, and if I lived in CT I'd stop by and purchase a pizza from you for sure!---Kathy

 

[shayna111]

Aaawww sorry to hear that! The economy is supposedly picking up steadily. Try hanging in there a bit longer. You shoul dbe OK.

 

[meriface11]

where is your pizzaria? i'd love to check it out to help support you. PM me if you don't want to post on the main board.

 

[SplashMo]

Our favorite hires mostly HS students from the local school. They also offer 1/2 price pizza on Tuesdays. However they do not allow you to order half and half pizzas on half price day. The wait time goes through the roof.

 

[kandb]

I inspect restaurants and I know a few pizzerias that have said the same thing as you. I know one in particular pizzeria that started selling pizzas the local schools and said it's the only way they could stay in business. Maybe some local schools have pizza days during the week and you could give them a discounted rate. Good luck, sorry for your losses. Linda

 

[mainstreetmagic]

I am so sorry for the loss of your parents. Both of my parents are gone, too, and I know how difficult that is. Hope 2011 is a better year for you!

 

[Suz D]

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.

I think this is a FANTASTIC suggestion. Although gluten is not a problem for me, I do know that it's really diagnosed a lot now. Places that sell "comfort" food that is gluten free are really busy! I say go for this.

I also like the idea of taking pizza to the staff at local hotels to encourage them to send business your way.

Good luck to you. I'm so sorry for the loss of your parents. I lost my mom in 2008 and in 2009 my dad's Alzheimer's started taking him downhill quickly. It takes a long time to recover from those losses and with financial worries on top of it, I'm sure you are under a great deal of stress. I hope you can have just a few minutes of peace every day.

 

[SoonerSarah]

I am very sorry about the loss of both of your parents, I just can't imagine.

As for the pizza, we don't eat out for pizza as much as we used to. It mainly began when our middle daughter was found to be lactose intolerant. While some LI people can still handle cheese, or small amounts, she was not able to. So in order for our family to eat pizza, we had to peel all of the cheese of of her pizza, put on a slice of soy cheese and melt it. It wasn't quite the same. Once I started finding Almond cheese, we just stuck to only getting a pizza for DH and I once she was in bed, or us making Stromboli, with a special one for her with her almond cheese.

However, we would have been willing to pay extra for a pizza with special ingredients for our daughter. It wouldn't have been something that we did all of the time, but it would have made going out for pizza a lot more workable.

I understand that it is a lot of work, you have to read the ingredients closely, especially with milk (casein, sodium caseinate, etc) and make sure to keep things seperate, teach employees to change gloves and wash surfaces completely. If you live in a largely populated area, I think if you could offer some gluten and/or dairy free pizzas, you could possibly generate business from an untapped market, bring in customers that can't be loyal anywhere else simply because you offer something that no one else does.

Also, you could do a soy pizza and an almond pizza, hopefully you could get people who are able to eat either soy or almond (we actually prefer the almond taste rather than the soy).

Lisanetti is the almond cheese that we would buy (our daughter is now able to tolerate cheese in smaller amounts). Also, it lasts longer than dairy cheese. If you have any local health food stores, you could always see if they carry it as well, in case you were to end up getting more orders than you have cheese.

Good luck with your business! It sort of makes me want to order some from our pizza place, so we just might have to do that tomorrow.

 

[smokeyblue]

I work at a hospital and we order out lots. All the floors do. Ever so often the sub shop brings around samples and menus.

There are also lots of businesses that offer discounts to hospital employees if they show their badge. My gym also cross-promotes with businesses, one pizza place gives 50% off the 1st pizza if I show my gym card.

Two of the more popular places in town have have lunch specials with pizza rolls or single slices. They are always incredibly busy.

I know it must be super hard to compete with the chains and the take and bakes from Wal-Mart and such. Local places seem to focus more on quality. I hate to say that we only eat pizzeria pizzas maybe 4 times a year. I love the quality and taste, but the cost is just too much.

I hope 2011 brings a much better year for you.

 

[SplashMo]

My Favorite pizza is BBQ chicken in case you do not have that one...

 

[Disney1976]

So sorry to hear about your horrible year. I can't imagine losing both parents, and esp. since they were a young age. It's always harder during the holidays too.

Meanwhile, I live in Orlando where the pizza options are plentiful. Our favorite place is a chain- Giordano's for their stuffed crust pizza but they also offer excellent salads, lasagna, other italian pastas and breadsticks...and best of all, ice cold beer with a special pitcher rate when we dine-in. They are expensive but delicious. I'd rather spend more money to have a really good pizza vs. just picking up a cheap dinner. Little Caesars, Papa Johns, and Cici's come to mind- blech. There's a new non-chain local place next to our Target that has some introductory pricing and we want to try it as it would be very close to home and convenient. If it's good, I'd definitely be back as everyone in my family loves pizza and aren't fond of the frozen ones. When my kids were in school we frequented the local pizza place that offered a % back on a certain night to their school. The school did the advertising and we felt good about supporting the school while having a nice meal that I didn't have to cook! I also love the idea of the gluten and lactose free pizza options. Anything to make you stand out above the competition is a good thing. Is there a Costco or Sams close to you that sells pizza? If so they might be taking some of your business as I know Costco has a $7.00 super-size pepperoni pizza that you can take home or they can bake it for you in the store for the same price. I always see lots of people with that pizza in their cart as it's easy to just toss in with their other groceries vs. having to make another stop. I wish you the best of luck, and if I lived in CT I'd stop by and purchase a pizza from you for sure!---Kathy

Just wanted to let you know about a pizza place in Orlando just off Orange Avenue downtown called Planet Pizza. They keep weird hours for the clubs -I think they operate 5 pm to 5 am, but the pizza is really very good, and they have a wide selection! I used to live in Orlando, and got pizza from there a lot.

 

[mikechan]

Very sorry to hear that. Hope 2011 brings much better times with it for you.