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(contributed by Sean Brauser)
Before we even start, i want to ask you what kind of business you are in. Most of you think i
am crazy right off the bat, but go ahead and say it out loud. What kind of business are you
in? A lot of people just said the restaurant or pizza business. Well guess what, you are in
the marketing business. Once you realize that, your sales will immediately begin to increase.
Why do I say you are a marketer? Well first of all, look at the competition. Each of you, if you
are like me, has ton of competitors. Too many. Each of us is vying for the same consumer food
dollar. Add the hundreds of other types of restaurants in your town, and you are in a huge
battle for your customers order, and i am sure that everyone of you has "the best pizza". I have
never met a pizza person yet who doesn't believe they have the secret formula for the best pizza
ever created. I have won 3 u.s. pizza championships, been to the world pizza championships 3 times,
won the best pizza in medina county 2 years in a row, and yet, there are 16 other pizza shops in
my town, and each of them is busy on friday night. What I am saying is you can have the best pizza
in the world and still go out of business or struggle week to week.
Secondly, if you opened a new pizza shop, and served a "big chain" pizza out of it, you would
probably go out of business inside of 6 months. So how do they prosper and continue to grow
sales? They are in the marketing business. Until you realize what battle you are in, how
can you ever win the war?
Now there is no way for you to compete dollar for dollar with the big chains. You don't have
resources like ad agencies or focus groups like them either. They are out to squeeze your
margins so tight you can't make any money. Sounds hopless right? Wrong! Remember the story
of David & Goliath where David, a small boy, put a giant down with small pebbles. This is
how you do it too! The way you win this battle is what i like to call the riffle
approach vs. the shotgun approach. With the riffle approach, you have to
pick up customers one at a time. start at the schools and community events. Give your pizza away every chance you
can. I didn't say sell it cheap, I said give it away. If you know of an organization with 30 people
attending, send them some free pizza. If you know a teacher, let her give her class a pizza party if they
can achieve some goal. if your pizza is that good, it can be one of your most effective marketing tools.
In order to compete with the big boys, you also have to look & act the part. Look around your store. Is it well lit,
clean or cluttered? How does your signage look? Clean & fresh, or from 1987? It all makes a huge difference
because customers are looking. Do you advertise inside your 4 walls? Are your
phone people up-selling breadsticks & soda on every order? Are your delivery time acceptable?
Do your pizza boxes represent you like a good salesmen in the house? If any of these answers are
No, then you are leaving $$ on the table.
Once these simple items are in place, you can look to RDP Foodservice to help you
continue your marketing strategy. From promotional material, to website creation,
to menu analysis, RDP has a full line marketing department at your service!
Remember, we are marketers first. that doesnt mean you can just put a tired ad in the money saver & expect
to win the war. Be aggressive & use the riffle approach to help grow your business!
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