Get a Bigger Piece of the Pie

Tips for Running a Successful Pizza Shop

Pizza is a staple in the American diet, and for great reason. It’s versatile, quick, casual and fine, delicious and cheap. With the growth of large-chain pizza shops, local pizzerias have had to find new ways to differentiate themselves in a crowded market. Many successful local pizza shops across the country have found ways to stand out and be successful using these helpful tips to run a successful pizzeria.

1. Offer high-quality ingredients: It stands to reason great ingredients make incredible pizzas. Fresh produce is a game-changer when it comes to topping your pizza. Not only does it taste better, it LOOKS better, which in the age of Instagrammable food, is a big necessity. One way to source better looking and tasting produce is working with local distributors who source produce from local farms. The added benefit is the marketability of saying you use locally sourced produce.
2. Set the mood: Whether you are a fast-casual pizza shop, dine-in or sell-by-the-slice, the ambiance you set is important to making people feel welcomed. This is especially important for dine-in and fast-casual pizzerias. Invest in your décor, hire the best servers, print high-quality menus. Every little bit goes a long way to establishing the sort of establishment you want to run.
3. Happy Hour, Happy Sales: The biggest opportunity local pizzerias can capitalize on is Happy Hour. Large-chain pizza shops can’t compete in this area. With a liquor license in hand, offering Happy Hour between 4pm to 7pm, for example, gives you the chance to get people in the door during the week right as people are getting off work. Consider too having a lunch special of some kind to further entice customers coming through the door.
4. Streamline Delivery: If you manage your own delivery drivers, sometimes it can be a challenge. Specific point-of-sale software are available just for pizzerias. Further maximize your delivery efficacy by defining firm delivery boundaries. Have a target delivery time based on how quickly a place could be reached. If you don’t have the infrastructure to maintain your own delivery system, food delivery apps like GrubHub, DoorDash and UberEats have opened the door for small restaurants to offer delivery that couldn’t before.
5. Use the latest in Pizza Technology: Like we mentioned before, specific POS software exists just for pizzerias. When you’re looking at pizza POS’s, think about the kind of features that would be important for you to have. Ovvi POS offers a robust restaurant POS that offers pizzeria specific tools. Such tools include an intuitive pizza builder ordering process, Caller ID with Customer Tracking, and Delivery App Integration with popular services like DoorDash, GrubHub and UberEats.