It’s time to think strategically about the new year. If you want to achieve growth you need to organize your tasks, set clear goals and implement a plan of attack. Each business has different needs, but there are some things all operators should take into...
History tends to repeat itself. Ten years ago, I wrote an article regarding my personal experiences dealing with soaring delivery costs and associated expenses. Big Dave’s Pizza had a sales mix that approximately half dine-in and half delivery. This ratio, now...
Big Dave Ostrander Crunch Time Remedy Cross training covers all your bases By Big Dave Ostrander Its late afternoon Friday. Within an hour, the phones will be ringing off the wall. Your best crew is checking and double checking stock levels and doing their last...
The more your crew can do, the better your operation will run. In baseball, triple threats — players who can hit, field and run brilliantly — are rare gems. Entertainers who can sing, dance and act are called triple threats. In our world, my definition of...
It was a hot summer night. I was cruising with my friends. We were a carload of young guys, fresh out of high school, approaching a college campus, looking for a good time. The driver pulled into a drive thru burger place. He said “these burgers are great. I bet...
Big Dave’s delivered a lot of orders. I’m convinced that one of the biggest reasons we dominated the delivery market in my area was that we measured the amount of time that elapsed from the phone call, in the oven, time out the door and time to the customer’s door. I...
Did you ever get the feeling you were being overcharged for cheese? How does your supplier set the weekly price of cheese? How do the big chains buy their cheese? What does Block Plus stand for? Why does my cheese seem to be soft and wet sometimes and dry and hard at...
Independent operators get a failing grade on a huge issue: they do not have readable financial statements. For the moment, I won't even consider the problem of getting information too late to be of any real help. Some operators just rely on their accountants to work...
There are so many ways to advertise! How do I know which advertising opportunities are the best ones for my Pizzeria? It can be mind-boggling and frustrating to figure out which ones will suit you well. First, you need to create an advertising budget. Without one you...
Just over half of my gross sales came from home and business deliveries. Over the years we stumbled on a few ideas that made us stand out from the competition. We were the first company in our area to use car-top signs. It was so long ago I had to make my own from...
Big Dave’s always closed early on Christmas Eve (6 p.m.) so that my crew could get home and enjoy their family time. The key word here is family. Many families gather together on Christmas Eve. Since the following day will be filled with traditional home-cooked...
The average customer spends less than 40 seconds looking over your menu. In that time, the brain kick-starts into overdrive and a purchasing decision is made based on emotion, comfort zone, curiosity and cost. Some of your menu choices contribute lots more cash to the...
