Surveys concentrate on dining experience, but it’s just as valuable to learn who your customers are Every other Friday, kids in baseball uniforms bustle into your restaurant, stomachs rumbling, coach leading. No deductive reasoning needed; you have...

Ways to celebrate National Pizza Month It’s October and you know what that means — National Pizza Month. Pizzerias across the country celebrate the month-long tribute to America’s favorite food. Fun fact: Did you know National Pizza Month was c...

Pizza restaurants raise money for charities, but receive beneficial kickback marketing, too In December, Papa Murphy’s in Stanwood, Washington, donated an entire day’s sales to a local woman who suffered serious injuries and burns and lost her tw...

Coupons are still a viable marketing tool, if used wisely Don’t tell Peter Wiley the paper coupon is irrelevant. Wiley, one of the co-founders of Kettering, Ohio-based Rapid Fired Pizza, says the chain sends out coupons in postcards, local discount...

Are you successfully promoting your victories? “To the victor go the spoils.” The spoils of victory are the bonuses and treasure you get for winning. In the olden days of war, the winning army pretty much got to loot the countryside and take what...

I know I’m supposed to write about pizza, but I can’t stop thinking about burritos. As I write this, the food world is in an uproar over a controversial pop-up eatery in Portland, Oregon. A pair of friends discovered incredible handmade tortilla...

The average pizzeria can produce its own successful videos We’ve all heard the phrase, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” but did you know that a video is worth one million? A recent study concluded that one minute of video is worth 1.8 mil...

Do you give smart employee reviews? Are you updating your pizzeria’s Facebook and Twitter pages more often than providing performance feedback? Just like you, your employees want a constant stream of likes, comments and constructive redirects. With...

How cheese prices are set, why the figure moves so much and strategies to better manage costs Gary Cooney certainly knows how the volatility of cheese prices can impact a pizzeria. The man behind Chicago’s seven-unit Waldo Cooney’s Pizza chain, C...

Negotiating your commercial lease renewal It’s finally arrived…your restaurant’s renewal notice date. A date you, hopefully, circled years ago to ensure you negotiate and renew your commercial lease at the proper time. Although you may have gon...

Get a grip on financials now, thank yourself later Let’s talk financials. For 33 years in this business, I have always maintained up-to-date financial reports. I use these reports to manage my pizzerias, but I am fortunate to have and understand ho...

Five ways to enhance the customer experience It can be tough to fully understand the vast array of tech options available today — let alone implement them into your pizzeria operations. While technology can help increase sales and boost the guest e...