your thought process

[jporter12]

Where is your place at? I've been wanting to check it out sometime.

I would have to agree with porter about customer service. Customer service is what keeps places like starbucks going. Yes they have great coffee, but who wants to spend that kind of money on freakin coffee? Customer service FTW!! Lol...

In that regard, I won't go back to a location of a fast food joint for a while after getting bad service (with the exception of a bad experience on opening day, or something like that.)

The only place I won't give up, even for bad service, is Chipotle. I have a burrito addiction that I'm very proud of!

Funny that you mention Starbucks. We don't drink coffee, but the wife loves their hot chocolate. We've stopped there a few times for her (after me and the boys get smoothies) and I commented on how great, and "chatty" they are even through the drive thru. I never realized how customer service oriented they are!

[rick37]

don't pay any company to do that. I'm sure there are plenty of people here who would go and let you know....

That is what I was thinking

[max power]

What road was it on./

I also thought about starting a mystery shopper program for my store, I would like to know how my customers are treated when I am not there.

It was/is on 3rd and Northwest. Next to Byrnes. Just looked it up. It was Grandads. my bad.

[rick37]

We are basicly the same,

Grandads was started by its current owner and the guy who started grandmas.

[|SnOmAn|]

Funny that you mention Starbucks. We don't drink coffee, but the wife loves their hot chocolate. We've stopped there a few times for her (after me and the boys get smoothies) and I commented on how great, and "chatty" they are even through the drive thru. I never realized how customer service oriented they are!

yeah, from what I've heard, they have special customer service training. I went to the one in Lancaster and the drive thru people were awesome. I told them what I was in the mood for and they suggested something for me and when I got to the window he made me try it and said if I didn't like it they would make me something else at no charge. I have been to one that they were blah but that was at a rest stop in West Virginia.

[ohdaho]

Back in college in Texas, there was a place that mainly sold pizza by the slice (like sbarros) and had lots of different toppings. Things you couldnt find anywhere else. My favorite was a slice of the soutwest...black beans, cheese, sourcream , and guacamole.

Not sure if your location has alot of foot traffic to change to that type of business model. You just have to find out what people in your area need. If youre in a rich area then maybe offer a wider variety or toppings, something outside the typical shit all the other chains are offering. If youre in a poorer neighborhood or lower middle class flyer the fuck out of the neighborhood with coupons.

[flounder]

I am reexamining my business model since the economy down turn,

As some of you know I own a Pizza Place and I am curious on what you factor in when ordering pizza,

Name, Location and website of your pizza place? Im always for trying something new.

[rick37]

Back in college in Texas, there was a place that mainly sold pizza by the slice (like sbarros) and had lots of different toppings. Things you couldnt find anywhere else. My favorite was a slice of the soutwest...black beans, cheese, sourcream , and guacamole.

Not sure if your location has alot of foot traffic to change to that type of business model. You just have to find out what people in your area need. If youre in a rich area then maybe offer a wider variety or toppings, something outside the typical shit all the other chains are offering. If youre in a poorer neighborhood or lower middle class flyer the fuck out of the neighborhood with coupons.

I just had nightrider come down and do door hangers just a few weeks ago

[rick37]

Name, Location and website of your pizza place? Im always for trying something new.

I edited my first post with all this info

[Fonzie]

price

taste/quility

service/previous experience

D- all the above. I'm not saying you should sell a premium pie for $5, but, all the successful shops around here give you a CONSISTENTLY good pizza for a good price.

I gotta echo Shawn here, and we get pizza at least once a week, if not twice

I've got a family of 6, with 3 teenagers.... 2 of which are boys, who also have friends over ALL the time (extra mouths to feed). They're continuously involved in sports.... oldest son is on 2 basketball teams now, & daughter is playing basketball + club volleyball, so our life is complete chaos!! The place we go the most is Little Caesar's. Quick & cheap, and we actually like the pizza, especially when we have it Crazy Crusted. For $20, I get 3 larges, crazy bread & a 2 liter. That's about the same price I can feed them from goin' to the grocery, but I walk right in & the cooking's already done (yes, I know.... Not healthy though)

True story.... I bought the stuff at the store today to make mini pizzas here at home, 'cause the kids enjoy making their own pies..... 3 packs of flour tortillas ($2), couple pounds of shredded cheese ($5), 3 jars pizza sauce ($3), 3 packs of pepperoni ($5) = ~$15 (all store brands). Now factor in my time shopping, & time & electricity to cook, & we're pretty close to that $20 at LC. Like I said though.... The kids have fun with it, & I've got ingredients for 30 tortilla pizzas

Donatos & Pizza Hut thin & crispy w/ pepperoni & sausage are my all time favorites, but at $10+ a pop.... Those are a treat when it's just me, or maybe only one of the kids are home. Thin crust don't go far with teenage appetites, & I literally go into convulsions if we spend any more than $30. There's a local place called Jac & Do's too, but again.... Thin crust, so only as a rare treat

Every once in awhile we'll splurge for Marco's, Dominoes, Papa John's or some other local joint, if they're running a good special, and we just had LC not too long ago

I actually had an interesting conversation with the owner of Jac & Do's years ago. He said he remembers when he was a boy, & pizza was considered a rare treat, along with McDonald's, etc. Now, with increased incomes & more hectic lives.... People eat out constantly

Edited December 10, 2009 by Fonzie

[Cdubyah]

I will pay more for better quality. I really don't look at specials, but will ask. If I can save a buck or three on a pizza I like, better for me. I look at quality first though.

[RFM]

We are basicly the same,

Grandads was started by its current owner and the guy who started grandmas.

Then proximaty to a nice bar. I live next door to Byrne's. I woke up with a slice of pizza in my wallet and no money... I started the evening with $90.00.

[Gump]

One thing that will kill a repeat sale is bad service or the "thought" of bad service, unclean store, bad phone manners, poor scripts, strange delivery person. People will eat bad food at a clean, expensive/friendly place. If your employees general appearnace/demeanor gives you the feeling that they would spit in your pizza as soon as your backs turned i'm probably not coming back. If they are all joking around amongst eachother being rude and vulgar, i'm probably not coming back. If the delivery guy/girl looks as if he/she robs banks, or skims money off your books, i'm probably not coming back.

I'm not a food person so it's whatever pizza place flyer that remains on the fridge is it.

The result of one peron who has had a bad experience is worse than a 1000 happy customers.

There are certain stores i won't go to based on service. If everytime i go there and there is an issue when i buy a pop because you don't know how to use your credit card machines, paypass or whatever it is. I'm done. I normally don't have time to sit and have a conversation with them and play swipe the card game and that's after waiting for them to figure out the problem they had with the guy in front of me.

[Zach]

There are a few things you can control that don't cost you much (or any) money.

Speed of service, Customer service, Quality and value of your product.

Do your deliveries get done in a timely manner? C-bus, as you know, has a bazillion pizza joints. If your pie takes 45-60 minutes to arrive, someone will go to the next place that will do it in 30.

You sound like you don't trust your staff or their customer service skills. Why is this? As this is your business, this should be a #1 priority. Train them well, pay them fairly and don't put up with toxic behavior. If it means you have to work more and suffer, that's better than a bad worker scaring off customers every shift.

Is your pizza good? I've never had it, but you need to be honest with yourself. If you guys make a good pie, is it ALWAYS good? One of the reasons the big brand pizza places are so successful is because they are consistent. I can order the same pizza from domino's (yuck! but whatever) from coast to coast and get the exact same pizza. Your customers want that from you as well. If they get a pizza at lunch time today, they want to be able to order and receive the same thing on Friday night.

The next thing to worry about is getting your name out there. You said you did door hangers, did they work? Did the hangers just have an ad for your business or did they have coupons? Coupons are a good way to gauge your advertising efforts. Say you release 1,000 coupons in an area and get 100 orders- you now can see that 10% of the people in that particular area are interested in your product. If another set of coupons released in a different area yields a different response you'll be able to compare those results and market your business accordingly.

Someone mentioned bars in your area. This is a GREAT way to expand your business. Bars that don't have kitchens usually have no problem letting pizza places deliver to customers. If a customer is staying to eat, they're staying to drink too! A great way to make this system work is with FREE FOOD. Bring the manager/bartender a free pizza and some menus. You can work out deals with places or make them feel special by giving them freebies every now and then.

Word of mouth is the number one advertising method a small business can utilize. Give people a GOOD reason to talk about you. Eliminate any negatives that you can see. A happy customer will tell 2 people about your business; an unhappy customer will tell 9.

Best of luck!

[Artmageddon]

I'll give you my advice.

I'm not sure what kind of pizza you do, but the trend in the Columbus area seems to favor being a Donato's clone. There are enough Donatos and the like, try something different. Right now the best pizza in Columbus to me is Romeo's. Good pricing, pizza is very tasty.

Having said that, there is better pizza. I'm from eastern Ohio, and so are tons of other Columbus residents. We grew up on Dicarlo's, which is square pizza, flash baked, and usually the cheese and toppings are cold. This stuff like crack to anyone originally from Eastern Ohio/ WV Panhandle. Any time I go visit if I want to see anyone that moved way as well, I can find them at Dicarlos. If I go home for one day, I get it twice.

There was a Dicarlo's in Columbus, it changed to avoid franchise fees though. There may still be one hilliard and the east side. Check it out, see if you can do something like that, I bet it goes well. It is also sold by the slice, so people can spend as much or as little as they like. This is really profitable if you are near a school that has an open lunch, the pizza joints next to my high school did most of thier business at lunchtime.

[e-flores]

Service!!! Service!!! Service!!! Always make that a priority, whether or not you are making a inexpensive style pizza or a $20 pizza if you're service sucks no one is going to buy your product. End of story, if you base your shop from that you can pretty much go any direction.

[siggywiggy]

^^^ agree. Find your unique cooking style. be different than anyone else. whether its seasoning. or huge pieces of sausage. find something that will separate you from others and you will have a follower group based on that.

[SchmuckGirl]

It was/is on 3rd and Northwest. Next to Byrnes. Just looked it up. It was Grandads. my bad.

Grandad's is good pizza but it seems to have double the grease of any other pizza!

When I lived it Grandview, my fave was always Cowtown. I LOVE Cowtown pizza.... I think it's their cheese, it seemed to be higher quality....

[SchmuckGirl]

I will pay a little more for a higher quality pizza. When I pick up Little Ceasars or something else on the lower end of the spectrum it reminds me why I stick with a few pizza shops that use fresh, delicious ingredients or have some other factor that makes them stand out in my mind.

[rick37]

I will say that my pie taste awesome,I still eat my product from time to time even after looking at it after all these years, I am thankful for all the input and confirming my beliefs that I have had,But please continue with all the input.It is helping to reignite the fire under my ass to get back in the kitchen and do what I know what my store can do, I also realize that I will not be able to please everyone all the time and some people are to picky, One of the things I am trying to do also is back when I opened up I had fun when I went to work and my customers loved seeing us having fun while they waited for their order, I have a open kitchen so the customer can see everything going on.

Anyways thanks to all for the input.

[max power]

IF the kitchen is open, keep it extra clean. There was a shop in CW that most locals wouldnt eat at because the kitchen always looked dirty. It is gone now.

['03VstarSH]

I will say that my pie taste awesome,I still eat my product from time to time even after looking at it after all these years..............................

Hmmmm........must resist urge to make disgusting comment.

[rick37]

hmmmm........must resist urge to make disgusting comment.

lmao

[wrillo]

I haven't read this whole thread, but I just wanted to tell you about this place in Dayton called Cousin Vinny's. They have pretty good pizza for really good prices, but above all, they're open until 4am on the weekends. I think they're open til one or two during the week. There isn't a person in Dayton ages 18-28 that hasn't heard of or had Cousin Vinny's. Its a better option for the after-party eats because Taco Bell doesn't deliver. Also they'll let you pay over the phone with plastic for your delivery... donno if all places do that, but I was happy when I found that out. I never carry cash

Edited December 10, 2009 by wrillo

[MidgetTodd]

My suggestion is .... Open one closer to me and hire me to run it for you, I needs a JOB !