The fact of the matter is, in order to increase sales more people must try your pizza and compare it to the last pizza they ate and then choose yours. The really big question is “Where will the extra thousand dollars come from so I can run a successful marketing campaign? The really big answer is “Cheese.”

Right about now I suspect that about every other reader will start skimming the rest of this article. Some of you will have had your fill and jump to another story. Most everyone will be a little confused, and a few of you will come to the realization that I may have finally lost my marbles. Read on and I’ll “Show You the Money!”

Who Cup the Cheese?

Before I tell you the secret, we have to go back and visit cheese. A good friend and fellow board member of the Michigan Restaurant Association asked me a very pointed question fifteen years ago. He asked “How are you portion controlling cheese on every pizza you make?”. My reply was very defensive and in retrospect quite lame. “Alex,” I answered, “We always hit food cost within two percent. We are so good that we can free throw cheese on pizzas and hit it perfect every time. After all you know we’ve made about a million of them. He compassionately smirked and rolled his eyes in smugness. “Who do you think you’re kidding?” he said. “I know you may closely watch how much cheese you put on, but what about all of the young people working for you? Do you think that they give their friends and relatives a little extra? What about the hunks and the hotties? Then he marched me back into his kitchen and forced me to sauce and cheese five pizzas.

He then weighed the cheese that was on every pizza and the difference was dramatic. I missed the mark by at least one ounce, and several times two ounces, from my ideal benchmark amount. He said, “At this rate you’re flushing between 20 and 30 cents a pie down the drain. Just think how much your employees are losing you because you don’t have a system in place.” I didn’t know what to say.

He then produced a dozen ordinary rubber cups, and gestured towards his prep table. In place of the pan full of loose cheese were dozens of rubber cups with cheese in them. “Take these cups back to your place. Determine exactly how much cheese you want to put on every size pizza. Then scale out that amount in the cups and remove all the loose throw cheese from your make line. You’ll need to buy at least a hundred more, two hundred would be better. They are very inexpensive. I got these at The Dollar Store. They come in a plastic bag and you get six or eight for a dollar. They are called “Rubber 22 ounce stadium cups. They are re-usable and un-breakable. I guarantee you that your weekly cheese purchases will go down significantly as soon as you start using them.”

I drove back to my town and upon arriving at my store, I started doing what every owner does. Fixing problems, solving other people’s problems, psychotherapy, (practicing medicine without a license) and soon forgot about the magic cups in my backseat. Alex called a couple of weeks later and asked how the cups were working out. I said, “Uh…fine…fine…fine.” I felt so guilty I dropped everything and went shopping. An hour later, I was back at my store with a huge box of cups.

When I plopped that box on the prep table all of the staff gathered around told them the story of my visit with Alex. I told them how he said we could save lots of money and reduce expenses a lot. I told them that even I couldn’t make five pizzas in a row the same way. I challenged them to do the same and see how hard it is to really portion cheese. No two hands are the same. I was all excited. They were not very impressed. They would rather I brought them a box of frozen confections from the Dairy Queen.

Are they Tuned In or Turned Off? My employees have a favorite radio station — so do yours. The call letters are WII-FM. They all have invisible radio receiver antennas on top of their heads. You can only see them if you look really hard into their eyes. We managers and owners listen to another station. Our favorite call letters are WYGD-FM. All day we go about our business broadcasting WYGD-FM (What You’re Gonna Do For Me). Our message does not reach our employees no matter how hard or how loud we send it because they are tuned into another frequency, they can’t help it, they just don’t hear it. The moment you start sending out your message on their frequency, WII-FM (What’s In It For Me) they start hearing your message loud and clear.

I knew that I was about to radically change the way we made pizza. Any change is hard. We had been free throwing cheese for over ten years. I knew that if I didn’t get an emotional, internal buy in from my senior pizza makers, my plan would be sabotaged and fail. I held a quiet meeting with my top four cooks and went over my plan again. I admitted to them that I wasn’t sure the plan to pre weigh every cup of cheese would work. I told them they were the most awesome pizza makers on the planet, but just maybe it would be worth a try. I told them that if we saved a couple of ounces here and there it would all add up. If a savings was realized in our total cheese purchases over the next thirty days, I would split it with them 50 / 50. They were getting the message loud and clear on WII-FM. Always remember: behaviors that are rewarded are repeated.

That afternoon we decided how much cheese we were going to put on every size pizza. This amount would now be our new standard. We decided on 10 oz. for a 14″ pie, five ounces for a 10″ pie and 7.5 ounces for a 12″ pizza. We started a weighing line. Loose cheese in one big Lexan tub, a dial ounce scale in the middle and another Lexan tub to receive the scaled cups. We stacked the cups two layers high and separated them with pizza squares so they wouldn’t compact the cheese in the bottom layer. Within a few minutes, we weighed out enough cups for the entire night. The cups were originally color-coded. Red for small, blue for medium and white for large. For extra cheese we put a small sixth size pan on the far end of the make line. We would free throw a couple of ounces on top of pizzas when guests ordered extra cheese. Since our portions were on the heavy side, we rarely had requests for extra cheese. I could live with this arrangement. We went live that night and it went as smooth as silk. They were liking it and selling the idea to the part timers.

The cooks were convinced that dumping cheese from a cup on to the pizza would take a lot more time than what they were used to. In reality, it was faster. They thought that weighing out the cups would take a long time. Wrong again, less than three seconds a cup. If we realize an average savings of 25 cents a pizza, this exercise is contributing $300 an hour to bottom line. The very first time you use the cup, it’s paid for.

At the time this study was done, I was using a little over a 1000 pounds of cheese a week. After we started portion controlling, my usage went to 800 pounds an week. Same pizza count and gross sales. The savings amounted to well over $300 a week ($1,200 a month and $16,000 a year). This system is the most idiot-proof system for portioning cheese I’ve ever seen. Some other less accurate systems are: dipping loose cheese from a tub into a cup and then on to the pizza. Another I’ve seen is an ounce scale right on the make line. These systems are flawed because not every scoop / cup is the same. Some are level and some are heaping. As far as the scale and a bowl on the make line I can’t be sure they are using it every single time, especially if I’m not there. It’s too easy to revert back to free throw or a “good enough” mentality, especially in a rush. My system leaves nowhere to cheat. One cup, one pizza, period. I eventually abandoned three different color cups and weighed out every cup at ten ounces. I used one cup for two small pizzas and one full cup for one large 14″. Since these two sizes accounted for 85 percent of every pizza we made, we physically dug out 2.5 ounces from a cup if we had an order for a medium.

Sorry,

Prior to taming the Cheese Monster, I bought my cheese from my supplier probably much like you do. My sales-rep came in every week and the first thing out of my mouth was “How much is your cheese this week?” His answer was “How much you paying for it right now?” The adversarial dance had begun. We dickered, he whined, I threatened and we laid huge guilt trips on one another. He ended up selling me the cheapest cheese he had in the warehouse. I was labeled a price whore. Every message I sent him was, cheaper, you’re too high and my favorite, I can get it for three cents cheaper from your competition. Worked every time. He caved in and gave me the price I beat him down to. What I didn’t know is that he got me back in the disposables and cleaning supplies area of the invoice. The sorry thing about this game is for that years I never knew what really high quality cheese was. I was only focused on how much a pound he was charging me. The most provocative statement I heard from a rep was: “Why do you care how much my company charges you when you don’t care how much cheese your pizza makers put on your pizzas?” Touché. Definitely time for the cups.

All cheese is not created equal.

It took me about another year to get around to conducting a side-by-side cheese study. I asked my sales-rep to sample me all of his higher quality cheeses. I was getting frustrated with the inconsistency of performance of the cheap cheeses I was using. One week it came in too soft to use, next week it didn’t want to melt and then there was what I call Bubble Gum Cheese. After the cheese is baked, the mouth feel was not good. The more you chewed it, the more you had to chew it. It wouldn’t break down and gave you a sore jaw. But it was cheap. We bought two packages of 12″ flour tortillas, spread three ounces of every cheese on them, and baked them as we would in my ovens. It was a blind test. I had no clue which cheese was on the test tortillas. We baked them all and analyzed them on flow and melt, browning off, stretch, flavor, mouth feel and excessive oiling off. Out of the dozen we tested, we narrowed it down to two and then one. This cheese was remarkable. It cost a few cents extra per pizza to use it, rather than the stuff I wasn’t happy with or proud of.

I Made the Decision to go with Quality.

I switched to the premium cheese and started getting positive feedback from my customers. Isn’t this why we are in business? The new cheese I decided on was a blend of mozzarella and provolone also added a little Parmesan and Romano to my pizza sauce. This allowed me to position my pizza as the only one in the area that used four blended cheeses, (Quattro Fromagge). This became a strong selling point and differentiated me from my competition, and this is the stuff that marketing is made of. If you want a plain cheese pizza, go to the 7-11 Store. If you want the best pizza in town, you’ve come to the right place. Fast Forward fifteen years…

My cooks wouldn’t know how to make pizza the old fashioned way. My cheese usage and sales almost doubled. During peak sales periods, we bought over a ton of cheese a week. The speed of application of the cheese is less than 3 seconds per pizza. We hit ideal food cost percentage every month. I never ask my rep the cost of cheese. I buy it on a cost plus program from my distributor. I funded all of my marketing with the savings generated from this simple system. I owned 65 percent of the market share in my town. My marketing was so effective that we held our competition to zero growth and watched as they went out of business one by one. My only regret is not having that visit with my friend ten years earlier. Thanks Alex! I’ll always be in your debt.

You’re Ten Cents Too High.

Give your customers a chance to win a trip to Italy or $10,000 in the Escape to Italy promotion from Repeat Returns.

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1. Promote the promotion using the materials we provide and distribute game cards to your customers.
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This promotion is open to Repeat Returns Members Only.

Promotion Benefits

• Creates “buzz” and repeat visits
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SAMPLE GAME CARD
Your unique promotion code will be included on your cards.
(actual dimensions of final cards may be diffferent)

PROMOTIONAL FLYER

Click the image below to download a full-size promotional flyer in PDF format. (file size 25 Mb)

PROMOTION LANDING PAGE

This is what your customers will see when they visit the promotion page. You can visit the actual promotion page here:

Visit The Promotion Page

Three simple ways to know EXACTLY what to advertise…
Do you normally respond to ads for things that you don’t often buy? Umm… no? Same thing for your own restaurant and pizzeria customers. They pretty much keep buying the same things… over and over and over. That means… you should keep advertising the SAME things… over and over and over. (I’m not talking about cutthroat discounting either – I’m talking about “selling” your product).

Sure, you can roll out something new from time to time and see if it’s got legs… but for the most part – you need to advertise your biggest selling menu items… pepperoni pizzas… ham sandwiches… whatever.

In this short video – you’ll see the complete logic behind making offers to people – on items they already want to buy. That way – instead of having to twist their arm… you just pop them a little reminder…

Also, look around… I’ve opened up more free content for you… go ahead – click some of the links.

Also… check out the archives if you missed my last blog on building a killer coupon…

Till next time…

Just ask Buffalo Wild Wings, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Checkers Drive-In, Domino’s Pizza, Pizza Hut, Subway, Quiznos Sub, Firehouse Subs, Taco Bell, and Wingstop. All of these national restaurant brands have hired football player spokespersons or have developed unique marketing campaigns to draw the pigskin-loving crowd.

For the pizza and wings-based brands, it makof their business and Super Bowl Sunday is by far their busiest day of the year. Here’s what the profile of an NFL football fan…

• Male: 72%
• Men 25-54 – 43%
• Household Income: $75K+ – 39%
• Median Household Income: $62,000
• 4+ Years College – 31%
• Internet Access – 72%
• Source: Nielsen Media Research, 2004

Of course not every restaurant can hire a star NFL player and run multi-million dollar TV advertisements. However, there’s no excuse for not being able to tap into this predominantly male demographic.
Here are 6 strategies that you can implement to market to football fans.

#6. Name a menu item after the local team’s mascot.
Wendy’s did this in its own backyard – Ohio. To attract Ohio State fans, the nation’s third-largest burger chain launched the Brutus Buckeye Burger and offered it through the football season. Think of all the possibilities for your restaurant. It doesn’t even have to be permanent. Maybe you change the name of your most popular item in honor of the most popular team in your area? You can create a limited time offer promotion around it and watch sales soar.

#5. Accept football ticket stubs as coupons.
This can be done at any level, including high school and junior high football leagues. You can even try posting signs at the stadium entrance to drive game watchers to your restaurant.

#4. Wear a Shirt, Get the Special
It’s one of those promotions that’s easy for customers to do and let’s them show off their team pride. Offer a standing game day “Sunday Special” but only to those customers who come in wearing their favorite team’s jersey or maybe a specific team’s jersey – it’s your call.

#3. Buy radio and television spots during local, regional or national shows (whatever your budget permits).
Sports fans don’t change the channel as much as daytime viewers. That’s because the fans don’t want to
miss the big play. And according to ESPN’s sales department, sports-fan-targeted ads are typically more
appealing and funnier than ads about laundry soap and dog food.

#2. Sponsor fantasy football.
You can sponsor fantasy football leagues and offer the winner a free meal at the end of the season. Post the results every week and watch your male customers increase — because they love looking at their football fantasy stats.

#1. Incorporate your Customer Loyalty Program
The easiest and most effective way to build your football marketing program is through your customer loyalty program. You simply tie your football specials and promotions to customers who have joined your loyalty program. Then, you have direct access to them every week via email, text messaging or direct mail.

Mid-week you can send an email to all your loyalty program customers – or just the male customers – and let them know what teams will be playing and your weekend specials. This will also help you trim down the cost of TV and Radio commercials.

With Text Messaging you can send a message to all your customers just a couple hours before the game inviting them in for a “last minute” special. Or, you can send a text message at half time inviting customers to join you for a “post-game” celebration. When you have an “immediate” marketing vehicle like text messaging, the possibilities are unlimited.

And what about Rewards and Bonus Points?
Depending on the type of rewards you offer in your loyalty program, you can come up with some fun promotions without breaking the bank on discounts and specials.
Here are a few ides:

• Offer Double or Triple Points on game days
• Tie reward points to fantasy football league winners
• Issue Bonus Points or Rewards based on game picks – have customers complete a game day sheet with their picks and give 20 points for every game they pick correctly. Maybe offer triple points if they pick the final score.

These ideas aren’t just limited to Football. You can easily take the same concepts and modify them for Basketball (especially during March Madness), Baseball, Nascar or any sport that is popular in your local market.

Indeed, a new competitor is rarely good news. But, there may quite possibly be – a silver lining to this ominous dark cloud. Here’s why… big players come to town with a loaded bank account. They have a years worth of marketing cash – set aside. And they love to spend it.

Occasionally the big guys falter – but not very often. But, what if you could use their ocean of cash to help increase your sales? Say what?

Yeah… stay with me for a minute. Experienced race car drivers use what’s called “drafting” to conserve fuel. They allow the lead car to push through a thick invisible wall of air – spending additional precious fuel to do so. Then, they simply follow close behind and drive through the “hole” created by the lead car.

Let’s do the same thing… let’s “draft” behind the big competitor and use their pile of dough – to help us exterminate a smaller pesky competitor.

Scenario: Big guy comes to town. Independent pizzeria owners become fidgety, twitchy and jumpy. Big guy finally opens up and starts spending money at a rapid clip. Their marketing barrage bears down on the landscape like a dark storm. Independents scatter like scared rabbits… but not you. You smile and lick your lips. This is the event you’ve dreamed of. You’re going to “draft” off the big guy’s bank account and let them pull you to victory.

Hear me out.

My own personal experience with this – was when Papa John’s came thundering into town. They opened up right smack-dab across the street from me, rolled out the artillery and started pounding the area with marketing.

They had a dancing “pizza slice” out front on the sidewalk. They passed out flyers to my customers in my parking lot. They flooded the neighborhood with door hangers. And mailboxes were bursting with Papa John’s coupons (someone mysteriously shut off my gas valve that same weekend).

Funny thing though… I experienced the busiest week in our history up to that point. They – were creating demand. They were busy. I was busy. Where were all these customers coming from? Then, like a thunderbolt hitting me in the head – curiosity put me behind the wheel of my car. I wanted to see how the other pizzerias were holding up.

What I discovered shocked me… a handful of once busy pizzerias were now ghost towns. Drivers sitting out front with cigarettes dangling from their lips. An occasional customer arriving for a pick-up. Owners pacing the lobby.

The dank, musty smell of a business in trouble was thick on the breeze.

Sure enough, Papa John’s barrage of new marketing coupled with my constant marketing had created a vacuum, sucking business away from the weakest competitors and turning our little neck of the woods – into the very epicenter of the pizza universe. Over the next few weeks I stepped up my own marketing – just to be safe. ADVO, door hangers, and customer database mailings. I wasn’t taking any chances.

It wasn’t long after this; the first casualty – a pizzeria in business just less than two years – drew its last breath. Then another (just 4 blocks away). My own pizzeria was stronger than ever.

When you step back and look at the big picture – it becomes clear… there had been some sort of marketplace equilibrium. Then the big guy came to town and rattled his saber. A hurricane of marketing created temporary additional demand, and diverted existing pizza dollars away from two competitors just long enough to inflict a fatal wound.

Oddly enough, the eyebrow raising event of a big competitor landing in my front yard – had actually helped me. When the dust settled… my pizzeria had more customers and bigger profits than ever before.
This, I believe is the lesson: When a big competitor is looming on the horizon, ready to unleash a marketing storm, you can do one of two things. Cower, tremble and cringe. Or, grin ear-to-ear, step up and ride their coattails to the party.

The surest way to absolutely prevent a customer exodus in the face of new competition – is to steadily market to your own database (if you don’t have a POS you might as well just shoot your pizzeria at the first sign of a new player). On top of that however, is the opportunity to carve out a nice little piece of real estate, say – a half-mile radius around a local competitor, and…

Launch a Full Scale Competitor Attack

Lay siege to a weak competitor’s immediate trade area during this vulnerable period with a six week marketing firestorm. And no doubt, the damage caused by the big competitor’s “new store” campaign, plus your concentrated attack – will put your prey on the endangered species list.

But here’s the thing, unlike new-store marketing that goes zone-by-zone, a full-out attack means taking the entire area at once. You’re looking to deal a death-blow and you have to come in with swift and blinding violence to get the kill. You’ve got to strike fast and furious.

Plot your competitor’s location on a map. Eyeball a half-mile radius and then plan the assault. ADVO, door-hangers, direct mail solo pieces, magnet-mailers, and postcards – basically, something in the mailbox or on the doorknob each week – every home for a month and a half.

Value-added offers will bring out the best class of customer. A few free items with the purchase of a pizza (good offer to use on door hangers and postcards). But, you want to suck all the air out of the room so use price-point and discount offers as well during this 6 weeks (best with shared-mail).

Key points: “Draft” off a big competitors spending. Select a “weak” competitor to attack. Pound the area for 6 weeks straight. Go…

It’s not uncommon for me to work with a large number of restaurant owners who say, “I don’t understand why I’m not making any money. I’m doing record sales!”

Let me start off with explaining a lesson I learned early on in my career and is still true today, “It’s doesn’t matter how much money you bring in at the register. It’s what you do with those sales.”

With this lesson as our theme, let’s proceed to bust the most deadly marketing myth that I believe is the number two restaurant killer, right behind extremely high debt service. This myth is often referred to as the cocaine of restaurant marketing … couponing!

It’s called the cocaine of advertising because it feels good when you increase your sales at the register and often dramatically. But when you stop couponing and sales drop, you look for a quick fix and run another coupon promotion. And as time goes by, you start running more and more aggressive discount promotions just to feel the rush at the register.

The similarity to cocaine is that this practice is addictive, and while it makes you feel euphoric, it literally can and will kill your restaurant.

Before I dispel this popular practice, let me make sure I let you know that all couponing is not bad. It has its place and needs to be done wisely and strategically.

OK, the theory behind couponing is that if you send out an aggressive coupon promotion it will bring in customers (translation = sales) that you would not have had otherwise. Many marketing experts will quote the National Restaurant Association and say that this increase in sales will not require you to schedule more labor to handle the extra volume. So the assumption is that you will make a lot more money because you ran the coupon promotion. While this is not totally incorrect, it more often than not does just the opposite and robs your bank account.

The rub lies in the execution and overuse  h2

The rub lies in the execution and overuse  h3

The rub lies in the execution and overuse  h4

Let’s break the numbers down. First understand there are two types of expenses: variable and fixed. Variable expenses are expenses that go up and down with sales, such as labor and food cost. Fixed expenses are expenses that stay the same, whether you bring in $1 or $1 million in sales. The key is to keep these expenses in the correct balance, which means your restaurant is operating at or above a breakeven point before you run your discount promotion.
The key numbers

To have any chance of making any money in this business, your prime cost (total cost of goods sold plus total labor cost) should not exceed 65 percent of sales for a full-service restaurant and 60 percent of sales for a quick service restaurant (and I advise full-service restaurants to strive for a 60 percent prime cost goal to ensure success). Couple your prime cost with the assumption that every other line expense on your profit and loss statement is in line, the average restaurant only makes a nickel (5 percent) of every dollar it brings in.
For a moment let’s assume your restaurant is at the breakeven point today. In fact, you bring in $100,000 in sales a month and when all of your bills are paid you owe nothing more and nothing is left over for you to take home. Basically for every dollar you bring in, it goes out dollar for dollar.
If this was your restaurant and you chose to run a coupon promotion with a 25 percent discount to bring in more business, this is what your increased sales and profits might look like:

1. Increased sales by 20 percent for an additional $20,000 in sales.
2. For each new dollar that came in we deduct a minimum $0.65 to cover our cost of goods sold and labor (prime cost of 65 percent).
3. Take an additional $0.25 away for each new dollar because of the 25 percent off coupon (Assuming that no more and no less than the increased sales came were from this promotion).
4. Assuming you’re at breakeven and all of your fixed expenses have been covered and that there are no additional variable expenses in your operation, you pocket $2,000 you wouldn’t have made otherwise or about a 2 percent profit margin on $120,000 in sales.

Plus you had to run your butt off to keep up with the new rush of business. So if you were already making a profit, you could assume a 2 percent increase is what you get to keep. But if you ran a BOGO (buy one, get one free promotion) and were only at breakeven, you would actually lose money bringing in an extra $20,000 in sales.
For many of you the 25 percent discount example has you thinking, “Hey, I was making nothing before. At least now I have something.”
The problem with this thought process
If your restaurant is losing money on $100,000 a month in sales, and that loss was only $5,000 because your prime cost was running at 70 percent, only 5 percent above the recommended level, this increase in discounted business actually doesn’t help much at all! Take a look:

1. Increased sales by 20 percent for an additional $20,000 in sales.
2. For each new dollar that came in we deduct a minimum $0.70 to cover our prime cost.
3. Take an additional $0.25 away for each new dollar because of the 25 percent off coupon.
4. Your $5,000 loss is now only a $4,000 loss.
5. So for every $20,000 in increased sales, you keep (or in this case decrease your losses by) $1,000.
6. To turn your $5,000 loss into a breakeven scenario using a 25 percent off coupon promotion you would have to increase your sales from $100,000 to $200,000 to just breakeven using this approach!

Change this to a BOGO offer and you’re creating a recipe for disaster.
And it gets worse
Now that you understand the pure economics of couponing, you need to understand the whole story. Have you ever noticed that you wait to go to the dry cleaners until you get their coupon in the mail inside your Money Mailer or Super Coups mailer? The dry cleaning industry has trained their customers to wait for the coupon, to never pay full price.
The last thing you want to do is train your customers to wait for a coupon to actually make the decision to come into your restaurant and spend money. If you over coupon, this is exactly what you do. And when this happens you don’t get increases in sales because of the coupon. Instead, your existing (not new) customers wait for the discount, too! And your sales and profits actually start to plummet!
When discounting is a good thing
There are certain times when I think you should absolutely run a discount promotion and even give away a FREE meal. It’s when you’re marketing to bring in a new customer, i.e., targeting new movers vs. your own customer database. This is because if your restaurant is running well and providing your guests with a fantastic dining experience, the money they will bring to your register over their lifetime far outweighs the small initial loss.
The solution
Instead of discounting, follow the wise advice of a good friend of mine and marketing guru, Kamron Karington, start to bundle your promotions. Keep your register ring high. Give up your discount in food cost and WOW your guests.
But most of all, follow the advice of former First Lady of the United States of America Nancy Regan: “Just say no to drugs!” Stay far away from making couponing your preferred and only choice for marketing your restaurant.

The Internet has become an integral part of the daily lives of Americans. The “Big Three” pizza chains, Dominos, Pizza Hut and Papa Johns, have taken advantage of that and dominated the landscape of online food ordering. But finally, independent restaurants and pizzerias are jumping on board at a slow but steady rate.

The reason that online ordering didn’t catch mass appeal sooner is mainly due to a few misconceptions. Online ordering can be much more affordable and easier than you think, so let’s explore some of the myths.

Myth #1 “I don’t know enough about computers and the Internet.”

That’s why you should focus on making great pizza and leave this to the experts. Online ordering companies can have you online and running in a few very painless days. Most online food ordering companies only require information, such as your menu and thirty minutes or so of your time to answer some questions.

And while some companies charge fees to update your menu prices and specials, most online ordering companies will do these types of changes for free as long as your menu doesn’t change daily. One thing to ask about is if you are required to make menu changes and additions yourself. This often leads to the owner having to deal with the stressful and time consuming process of dealing with technology. It is easier to deal with a company that will commit to doing these updates on a timely basis.

Myth #2 “I have to first get a POS, computer, or high-speed Internet connection in my pizzeria.”

Congratulations if you’re one of the few high tech pizzerias with a POS, computer and high-speed Internet access! But, you don’t need any of those to give your customers the ability to order your food online. All you need is a fax machine and an existing phone line. Most pizzerias already have fax machines, the most you may need to do is move the fax machine to the front of the house or somewhere where it will be heard. If you don’t have a fax machine, there are laser fax machines available for about $160.

Myth #3 “It costs too much”

Online ordering has a vast range of prices. For example, to get your own website address with full online ordering capabilities, charges can range from $20 to $30 per month with no set up fee to upwards of $300 for setup fees and $100 per month. Some companies also offer valuable email marketing services to their customers at no additional costs.

Now let’s talk customizations. Customizations are any services that you want for your pizzeria’s website that most pizzerias don’t use. For example, you may want a section where kids come to your website and play games, or a section where employees can fill out job applications. These features would have to be designed specifically for your website. The cost would depend on how many hours a web design company will have to put in. Customizations generally run from a minimum of $600 to over $5,000. That can be pretty expensive.

• How often can I change my menu prices and items without incurring a charge?
• Is there a charge per order?
• Is there a penalty if we decide terminate our contract, and what is the length of the contract?
• Is there an extra fee for updating our coupons and specials?
• Always get the first few months free in order to let you begin to market the website.

Myth #4 “The Internet is just a fad.”

If the Internet was just a fad, then it would be running out of steam. In fact, just the opposite is happening. According to Nielsen NetRatings, the number of Americans with Internet access from their home increased 9 percent from 2003 to 2004.

The most impressive statistics were those published January 2005 by Stanford – the average Internet user spends three hours per day online, almost double the 1.7 hours the average respondent spends watching television. In relation to pizzerias, Internet users are already using the Internet as a resource to find phone numbers, directions, menus, special offers and coupons.

Myth #5 “My customers don’t want to send their credit card information over the Internet.”

In 2004, 55 billion dollars were spent online buying everything from books to shoes to cars to pizza! A majority of these purchases were made using credit cards. Although there are concerns about using credit cards online, here are some reassurances.

Myth #6 “My menu and coupons are too complex for the Internet.”

Most online ordering companies have employees that have owned and worked in the restaurant business and therefore understand the complexities of the restaurant business. Online, your customer will be able to order from your entire menu, all your specials, and even be able to use coupons.

Myth #7 “Only College Students use the Internet”

First – Of the roughly 220 million Internet users in the United States, only about 14 million, or 6 percent, are college students. Second, who eats pizza? Teens, mothers, families, single people. Not just college students. And finally, if only college students used the Internet then Pizza Hut, Domino’s, and Papa John’s would only put their locations that are close to college campuses online. With the Big Three racing to put all of their locations online here’s an opportunity:

1. Go online to www.pizzahut.com, www.dominos.com, or www.papajohns.com.
2. Enter in your pizzeria’s address. If there are already Big Three locations online near your pizzeria, then it’s time for you to go online and compete! If there are no locations near your pizzeria, then it’s time to get a head start!

Myth #8 “Giving my current telephone customers the ability to order my pizza online will not increase my bottom line.”

Sending current telephone customers to the Internet is not a waste of time and has one major benefit; higher check averages. The average online check order is six to nine dollars higher than the average telephone check order. The reason for this is that customers can see the whole menu and all the specials without being rushed to make a decision.

Myth #9 “I already have a website, so I don’t need to offer online ordering”

Online ordering companies can accommodate pizzerias, regardless if they have a website or not. A good pizzeria website will allow customers to view information about your pizzeria, menu, and coupons. What’s the next step? Online ordering.

Myth #10 “I’ll have a huge amount of online orders right after my site goes live!”

Many pizzeria operators will get their website ready and sit behind their fax machines and wait for the orders to fly in magically off the Internet. Remember one thing – you only get what you give. Just because you have a website doesn’t mean it’s time to plan for retirement in Tahiti.

Put the website address right next to your phone number wherever it appears – menus, coupons, flyers, radio ads, television commercials etc.

Put coupon codes in your coupons – these can be four to five digit numbers that appear on each coupon that the customer can enter in when placing an online order.

Call your online ordering company and tell them about the specials that you running – carry-out specials, delivery specials, Super Bowl specials etc.

If the online ordering company offers email marketing, start collecting customer emails immediately – let customers know that they will receive coupons and specials in their email.

The most successful online food ordering rollouts include great added incentives for customers to order food online, such as a two dollar discount for each online order over $15 dollars.

After setting up your online ordering you have to tell your customers about it:

• Advantages to offering online ordering compared to a simply owning website are monumental. What good is having a car with no engine? It looks great but doesn’t get you where you need to go. Online ordering will actually allow your customers to create and transmit an order completely without error. The goal of any website should be not just to show customers what’s available, but to complete the transaction.
• For example, Big Guys Pizza and Pasta in Southern California received 66 orders in the first months of offering online ordering. The average check of the online orders was $23.21 compared with $14.75 for telephone orders. There is a huge opportunity for pizzerias to increase revenues by offering online ordering to their current telephone customer base.

As more people buy online, security is also advancing. Today online ordering companies should be using advanced Internet security measures to protect customers’ sensitive information. The most common is called Secure Sockets Layer or SSL technology. But an advantage that online ordering has is that the customer associates their pizza order with the actual local restaurant. It is very assuring for a customer to know that the website they are ordering from is connected to a living breathing pizzeria around the corner. Another difference between online-only businesses, such as Amazon.com and eBay, is that customers can use cash!

Whatever payment methods you currently accepted over the phone should also be accepted online. A majority of online ordering companies not only allow for credit card transactions, but also allow for cash or check payments. The same customers that are uneasy about using their credit cards online are also uneasy about using their credit card over the phone. Therefore, your current cash customers have the ability to remain cash customers and don’t have to worry about the looming mysterious dangers of using their credit cards on the Internet.

The next logical step is to give these customers the ability to complete their transaction through online ordering. The Big Three and a host of smaller pizza chains and independents are racing to give their customer this ability to order online. It is obvious that online food ordering has a place in the future of the pizza industry.

The main thing to look at is return on investment. For the majority of pizzerias, giving customers the ability to order pizza online is the most important and profit-maximizing feature. Questions to ask online ordering companies to avoid hidden charges are:

The second thing you need is a phone line to connect with your fax machine. For pizzerias with rollover lines or pizzerias accepting credit cards, you may not need a dedicated fax line because you may be able to use your credit card processing line or one of the rollover lines for the fax.

Key Design Elements for an Effective Direct Response Mailing

Before submitting your mailing, review this list to see if you are covering these important elements. They are designed to maximize your return on investment.

1. Keep it simple
Generally you should only have one major communication point. It is OK to include one or two sub points. Generally speaking, a 12 year old child should be able to understand your message.

2. Call to action
The biggest complaint from those new to direct response mailings is that it wasn’t effective. Your biggest focus of the mailing should be to communicate your goal. For a restaurant it’s to logon to a website for online ordering or visit the store.

If possible, give your potential customers more than one option. Make your call to action simple, clear and in a place they can’t miss it. (Often it is towards the bottom of your communication and is rather large in size.)

All offers should have an expiration date and could include words such as “Hurry, Offer Ends Soon”, or “Limited Time Offer”. If you are using standard (bulk) postage, the suggested expiration date is about two months after the mailing is delivered to the post office.

3. Measurability
It’s critical that you include a mechanism to measure the responses from your mailing. Direct response mailings offers great accountability compared to mass marketing vehicles. These mechanisms could include: coupon codes, a special toll free number, a special web page that you can track, a code on a reply card, or simply asking everyone who visits “how did you hear about us”. (The last one is subject to human error, so try to use another method if possible.)

4. Personalization
Studies have shown that personalization, such as simply including “Dear John” to your mailing can raise response rates from 30 -80%. To really get your biggest bang for your buck, work with a creative team that can develop a communication where the personalization is integrated into the creative, not used as simply
an afterthought.

Best of all, with new digital printing capabilities, you can often utilize personalization at a lower cost than doing non-personalized mailings through a traditional printer!

5. Use of Color
Generally people pay much more attention to color and response rates usually go up from 40 – 300 %. Digital printers offer very affordable rates on full color without minimums.

6. Violators
A “Violator” is something that brakes through one’s thoughts, something that stands out in your mailing to gain attention. On a post card, place a colorful start burst on the address side, in case they see this first. On an envelope, place a message under your return address. Example wording: “Save $10, see reverse side”,
“Learn How to Protect Your Home, details inside”.

7. Return Address.
The post office requires this for third class mailing, however, it is strongly suggested that it be included on every piece of mail. It gives the customer confidence that you’re a legitimate business and that they could find you if needed. Also, although they are not supposed to, there have been reports that the postal service has delayed mailings without return addresses. So why take the chance?

8. Company Background
You might not have a lot of space to do this, so it can be as simple as a tag line. Include something that will give the customer confidence in your business. This could be placed close to your logo. Examples: “Serving Anytown since 1950″ or “Voted Best Italian Food In Anytown”.

9. Specifications
Be sure your document meets the Post Offices and your printers specifications BEFORE you give it to the printer. It is not uncommon to pay for printing, only to have it rejected by the post office! Good mail houses will check this out for you. Be sure that all images are at least 300 DPI.

10. Spell Check. Date Check
Always be sure to check for spelling. If you are using text boxes, it might contain all the words and letters, but sometimes they are cut off, so please proof carefully. If you are having an event, or a deadline, be sure to consider how long it will take to arrive to the recipient.

If time is not critical, standard (bulk) postage is a great way to save money, but be aware that the post office makes no guarantees about delivery, so it could take almost a month to be delivered. Generally Standard Mail takes about 7-21 days to deliver, but longer when the post office is busy, such as in December.

Most experts agree that one of the most important parts of mailing is not anything mentioned in this article, it is the address list. Even if you have the best designed piece in the world, if you don’t send it to the right people, you won’t have a solid response

These examples and tips on menu copy may help you raise your guests’ expectations for your food, but keep in mind, the capabilities and skills of your kitchen. It does more harm than good to use this type of descriptive copy if your kitchen can’t deliver the food quality so eloquently described in the menu.

An important factor that effects your guest’s perception of quality and selection are the words (or copy) that is used to describe the items on your menu. The right words and phrases will create positive mental images of your food and enhance customer expectations.

Good menu copy can give you the opportunity to differentiate your restaurant with creativity, flair and pizzazz. Some restaurants also use the menu as a vehicle to entertain their guests with humor and wit. Whatever the case, your menu is your #1 sales vehicle and it deserves careful attention to detail.

Menu Categories
Let’s start with the first level of copy, the words used to describe your menu categories. Here are the more
traditional and common category descriptions – appetizers & soups, salads, pastas, entrees, sides, deserts.

Now this may get the job done, but here are some ideas to say it with a little more flair –

• Just for Starters
• Food to Share
• Local Favorites
• Hearty Sandwiches
• Wood-Fired Pizza
• House Specialties
• Favorites
• Fresh pasta temptations
• Classic Favorites
• Chef’s Choice

Another idea is to add a short sentence short sentence or phrase about the category. This is a great way to add a story or higher degree of quality to a specific menu category.

• Desserts – Like everything else, all our desserts are made fresh daily in our in our kitchen.
• The Grill – We grill over a mesquite wood fire that seals in natural juices and imparts a rich, smoky flavor.
• Rotisserie & Grill – We fire up our rotisserie twice a day and slow-roast these moist specialties in their own juices. Get it while it lasts!

Menu Item Names
The next level of copy is the name of your menu items. You can easily differentiate your offerings from the
competition and create interest and individuality by coming up with some creative names for certain menu
items. For example:

• Lobster Tail – Caribbean Lobster Tail
• Chicken Pasta – Herb Roasted Chicken Pasta
• Salmon – Mesquite-Grilled King Salmon
• Grilled Vegetables – Fire Roasted Vegetables

Think about adding just enough of a description, or unique name, to peek some interest and set your food apart from the competition.

Menu Item Descriptions
The final level of copy has to do with the descriptive copy of the menu items themselves. Following are some examples of what one restaurant did:

• Oyster Cocktail: Fresh, local, yearling oysters served with our famous tangy cocktail sauce
• Chicken Pot Pie:Generous portions of plump, hand-carved turkey breast, fresh vegetables, rich creamy sauce, and our made from scratch flaky crust.

Here is a list of words you might consider when you develop your own menu copy:

• hand-selected
• old-fashioned
• made from scratch
• fresh from the oven
• sautéed
• unique flavor
• natural
• simmered to perfection
• melt in your mouth
• golden brown
• served piping hot
• generous serving
• the best you can buy
• spicy grilled
• slow-cooked
• premium quality
• 100% cholesterol free
• fork tender
• loaded with . . .
• all-natural
• bountiful
• delicate
• robust
• tangy
• plump
• full-bodied flavor
• chef’s choice
• garden-fresh
• natural juices
• loaded with flavor

Have Some Fun
Some restaurants include fun and good natured humor in their menu.  It’s not a bad idea. If it reinforces your desired brand image…then do it. You menu is there to enhance the positive distinctions of your restaurant. Take advantage of this opportunity to define and reinforce your unique identity.

If you don’t use humor, use a good story. People are drawn and endeared to stories.  They act as mental magnets and they will help customers remember you. They will feel a closer connection to your restaurant if they know the people, the history and unique qualities behind it all.

From Food Cost 101, you know you must first breakdown all of your offerings to identify the ones you want to promote. Then select a format or analyze your current menu.

Most national chains laminate their menu. One of the reasons is to ensure that a location in California will offer the same items as one in New York. As an independent restaurant, you don’t have such restrictions. In fact, this can be an exciting advantage over your national competitors.

A simple paper menu is hard to keep clean and dry. You may want to avoid it, unless you’re changing your menu daily. Many experts suggest a plastic cover or backing in which interchangeable sheets can be inserted. These are easy to change and are easy to keep in prime condition.

The average customer spends less than 3 minutes reading a menu, so keep it simple. Menu analysis reveals that 70% of the average items sold from a menu are approximately the same 10 selections. DO WHAT YOU DO BEST. Avoid trying to offer everything. Don’t forget that menus with prolific offerings have to be supported with a large inventory, and this can be very costly. A reasonable number might be 40 to 50 items.

Beware of being too clever with your menu. Pick a font that is easy to read, not too pretty or too graphic. Keep the color of the paper and the size of the font in mind with your lighting conditions.

When writing your menu be sure to use mouth watering descriptions. The following are various descriptive techniques:

• Method of preparation
• Unusual or specialty ingredients or recipes
• The way an item is served
• Characteristics (ex. Freshness)
• Variety, name brand or local origin

Emphasize the important items on your menu. The following are various techniques to enhance your most profitable and popular items:

• Graphics
• Boxes
• Font Size
• Icons
• Shading
• Photos
• Illustrations
• Asymmetrical alignment
• Special placement
• Tell a story or the history
• Color

Be sure to review your menu on a regular basis. Menus should be changed a minimum of twice a year. IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONSTANTLY OFFER NEW ITEMS. The chain restaurants, from fast food to casual dining, are perfect examples of this.

Finally, be sure to work with your foodservice sales rep for profitable possibilities. They can help you create and market limited time offers, holiday specials, seasonal menus, special event menus, and much more. You can also capitalize on their market knowledge by asking what is selling and what isn’t. Their manufacturer reps can provide regional data on what the hottest flavors and menu trends are.