Pizza is one of the most popular meals in the USA, with 93% of Americans eating at least one pizza every month. With that in mind, you might be thinking of opening your very own pizzeria – or perhaps you run one already. Here are some tips to keep your business profitable and the diners coming back for more!
Get Clear On Your Branding
With pizza such a popular dish, you may be facing a lot of competition. Stand out by getting really clear on your brand and incorporating this into every aspect of your business to boost visibility. Are you going to specialize in vegan and allergy-friendly pizzas? Are you going for the best deals in town, or for those wanting high-end, luxury fare? Think carefully about how to use your branding in your physical premises, your marketing, and your online presence.
For example, if you have decided to specialize in healthy pizzas that use organic ingredients, think about how to reflect this in the design of your dining room, your menus, and your website. Consider the colors, furniture design, and even the font style that would best support your image. Being consistent is key for a strong message.
Use a High-Quality Point of Sale System
Easy to overlook, a top-notch POS (point of sale) system will make your diners’ experience a slick, easy, and consistent one, which can help to turn them into repeat customers. A point of sale system deals with all your customer transactions, and pizzerias have very specific needs, even in comparison to other food outlets. Firstly, your POS system will need to be highly customizable; your customers should be able to add a variety of toppings and choose between different sizes of pizza, for example. Secondly, you’re going to need an integrated system that can also handle online orders and the tracking of these orders as they progress through the kitchen and go out for delivery.
Have a look here for more information on some great options of POS systems for pizza restaurants that are geared specifically to this industry; you could choose a cloud-based option if this would best suit your needs, and there are also systems available that can integrate with many of the apps and online tools that your business already uses. You’ll find a list of benefits and prices here, too.
Start a Loyalty Program
Getting an effective loyalty program in place has the potential to make a huge difference to your profits and return custom rates. Make this scheme work for you by incentivizing profitable customer behavior: for example, you could award bonus points for additional toppings or sides and for catering orders. Ensure that low-level rewards are easily achievable, as customers could lose patience if the only rewards on offer require months of saving points.
It’s important to tie your loyalty program into your social media presence, too; make sure that your scheme is highly visible on your pages, and encourage visitors to earn points for engaging with your brand online; you could offer points for reviews posted on Facebook, for signing up to your mailing list, or sharing a photo of a pizza they recently purchased from you and enjoyed.
Linking back to branding, as mentioned above: your loyalty card and program should represent your brand, too, so make sure both the aesthetics of the scheme and how it operates reflect your overall ethos to make it as effective as possible.
Stay On Top Of Trends
And finally, this tip is likely to have a huge bearing on the success of your business: being aware of, and responding to, fast-growing market trends. For example, there has been a massive spike in veganism and healthy eating habits over the last few years: canny pizzeria owners have capitalized on this by adapting their menus to feature a comprehensive range of choices that reflect this growing public preference.
Similarly, consumers are more aware of environmental concerns than ever before, so clearly demonstrating that you source ingredients locally, where possible, and from organic suppliers is likely to be very beneficial in terms of building a loyal customer base.
