When I first started delivery – our delivery times averaged about 45 minutes. And, I thought nothing of it. Heck, a fabulous gourmet pizza like we make – is gonna take a little longer – right? What a dope I was. Because one day while I was standing around watching the action – I had a weird thought… “could we deliver faster? I mean – really fast?” ”What would it take to do that?”

Well, surprisingly it didn’t take much. It simply started by deciding that “if Domino’s could do it – so could we.”

Floor plan. Go ahead and look this over. Then look at the photos of the actual store.

A customer’s eye view. Front counter with decorated pass-through window. And handicap counter (lower on right). Drivers station just past the door on the left (delivery map on the wall). By the way – I like having drivers come and go through the front door – it makes the place look busier than if they’re slipping out the back (and you want to appear busy).

POS. 3-station POS at counter (driver dispatch station in back makes 4). This is the old RapidFire NT system. For a new POS or to upgrade – I strongly suggest you take a look at Revention. It’s a killer system with strong marketing credentials.

Prep Area. Pretty simple… Robo Coupe2, can opener, Kitchenaide mixer, digital scale, seasonings, and canned goods. Makes for easy prep and easy clean up.

Walk-in. Prepped items in 6-pans on the left, dough in the back (where it’s the coldest) and don’t forget to put any raw meats (and even eggs) on the very bottom shelf. We always prepped some salads, and garlic breads so we could handle a good rush without having to assemble side items on the fly.

3 compartment sink. Great idea to put a metro shelf above the sink for either storage, or for letting dishes dry.

Dough room. If you’re starting from scratch – I highly recommend that you build in a special dough room (you’d be amazed at how far flour will travel). It’ll be in your POS, your walk-in condenser unit, your office. Putting your dough prep in its own little room will save you lots of aggravation later. Also, if you’re in a small town away from parts, you may want to consider a back-up mixer.

Dough station. Sheeter on the right (makes heavy volume a breeze). And notice the screen racks hanging on the wall. For dinner rush – prep a bunch of skins and cover them with plastic bags to keep them from drying out. Keep a water spray bottle handy too in case they get a little dry.

Makeline. Very important: Some places have all their meats grouped together, cheeses, etc. Here’s what you want to do… put your toppings on the line in the “order” in which they go on the pizzas. This will prevent cooks from having to backtrack on the line to grab toppings. This really speeds things up for you. Notice the “cheat sheets” above the makeline. Every pizza – with the toppings listed in the order they go on the pizza. This keeps all cooks – on the same page.

Cut & box table. Boxes below – ready to go. Heat rack to the right by the driver station makes it easy for drivers to “grab & go.” Upper left corner – notice “cheat sheet?” If some pizzas get things added after they come out of the oven – this will help make sure they’re not forgotten. Keep a couple of cutters handy.

Long shot… looking from the back towards the front.

Here you’ll find promotional pieces, ads, and marketing from Pizza Partner Members…

From: Scott Hack. Halloween Promo:

1. Contest Doc
2. Press doc
3. Pumpkin PDF
4. Pumpkin PDF#2

From: Scott Anthony. Thanksgiving B2B letter

B2B Letter

From: Mike Bausch Cash Register Coupon

Mike is the ONLY person I’ve heard from who says they are happy with a cash register tape program.

Here’s the details in Mike’s own words: "Here is a copy of the proof of what I used last year that was very successful. I did it before I read the Black Book so I used dollar discounting instead of free items which is what I do now. I get as little as one, sometimes 8, most days 3 of these coupons.

The company is called America’s best register tape and they average 2400 for a year to do it. I got them to go down to $2,000. I was only displeased at the fact that they didn’t get enough tape to the store so when they ran out, the store used blank tape. So when it came time to renew I said not unless they refunded me $500 dollars and for every month it happened again, I would get another 100 dollars back. So far this run has been flawless.

Another company representing Albertsons which has much less traffic offered me their tape for 2800 for a year, I said $1,500 with the $100 dollar clause. They came back with $2,100 for a year and I said thanks for your time. So that is where I stand today. And I don’t see the same people coming in with the coupon, it generates new customers, not as you would so aptly put it, bottomfeeders."

From: James King 10X10 promo

Double click "play" button

Jim and Joy King prove that they not only think ‘outside the box’ but ‘outside the store’. The King’s are introducing Hilo to their 10 x 10 concept this week; a pizza served in 10 seconds for ten dollars, served daily from 4:30-6:00pm.

From: Mark Deloury Stick-N-Save Mailer

Okay, here’s the deal… direct mail experts havs known for years that mail with an "involvement" device – gets stratospheric response rates compared to regular mail. An involvement device is something like that that little sticker you need to peel off and apply somewhere on the mailer saying "yes" or "no." Or, in the case of the Stick-N-Save mailer – it’s the fact that it has that peel off thingamabob – that you remove to stick the mailer on your fridge.

Anyway – Mark took action – ordered some Stick-N-Saves and got an immediate sales boost. You should do the same thing… here’s the details: Mark mailed 10,800 Stick-N-Saves in a saturation mailing around his store. He mailed on Tuesday – and they hit Friday. Sales skyrocketed by $2,364.00 over the prevoius Friday. Initial sales have trailed off – but are still up over $1,400.00 a week since generating a burst of excitement.

Mark says: "I remember Kamron at the super conference telling us that an interactive piece will get better result’s remember I am in the North East and am considered pricey in my area (large 15 inch cheese $9.00) I have good pricing on the rest of the menu but I do need to address the large cheese price , important note the coupon were pick up only."

See it here

Go to the Stick-N-Save section (left column under "Traffic Builder") and see if this is something you want to roll out. Be sure and mention that you’re a Pizza Partner Member for substantial savings.

I remember the rush of $1,800 lunches. The crew started shuffling in around 9:00 am. 2-foot long tickets hung on the walk-in door. Of course, everyone wants delivery at noon… so there’s quite a lot of choreography.

The most effective method to explode lunch sales is to actually go out  yourself, shake hands and give out free pizzas.