Pizza Today - October 2022 - 53

How you play this will
vary based upon the population
density you have
for each income bracket.
It will vary if you are in a
city, a suburb, a rural area
or a college town. However,
I can guarantee that
wherever you are, there
are income variations,
and it's time to tap into
all of them. Absolutely
all of them. Even from a
catering standpoint, create
more deals for them in the
fourth quarter, and go all
in on white glove experience
catering. They might
be ditching the country
club's kitchen for yours, so
act the part.
COVID was unique
in that it seemed like it
was going to be the worst
thing ever to hit the pizza
industry. We now know
it wasn't, at least from a
financial perspective. Massive
tax credits, surplus
payments and a captive
audience favored the
pizza industry more than
most. Let's be real about
the next year, there is no
bailout coming for today's
problems. A potential
recession has the potential
to do way more
damage than COVID did
if inflation, commodities
and customer price sensitivity
don't stabilize.
Again, you can't do
anything about macroeconomics.
But you can fight,
which means being able
to move on a dime, think
quickly, adjust or remove
high food cost items and
find better ways to gear
your menu.
Menu and Labor
Focus on low-cost
varieties to mitigate inflation-try
to make things
that don't take as much
labor to create or create
from scratch what is killing
your food cost if it's
cheaper. Use labor smarter
and have dedicated prep
workers to ensure you are
ready for speedy success
on your line. Remove
items that take too much
time to create. Be willing
to remove items that are
too laborious and costly
because they defeat your
purpose, which is to run
a healthy business. If you
keep something that takes
a lot of time and money, it
better yield many people
in the door. Don't cut your
nose to spite your face, but
trim some fat from your
offerings. Bold statement
here, but if you don't
change up your menu and
pricing at least three times
this year, you're not doing
it enough. Along with
pricing changes, you can
reduce portions, or add
packaging fees to pass on
to your customer. That can
be a touchy subject, so if
that's not for you, maybe
increase your third-party
pricing on their apps but
keep yours the same as in
house to advertise purchasing
direct from you as
" Best Value Pricing. " These
are tactics you need to
debate rationally to maintain
profit and stay healthy.
Marketing
From a marketing
perspective, you might
not have a ton of money
in your coffers to spend
OCTOBER 2022 / PIZZATODAY.COM / 53
on marketing, but you want to
make sure whatever marketing
you do is paying for itself
three to five times and that
you can verify it. If it's more
exploratory or unverifiable
marketing, it might be time to
pull back on that and lean into
what you know works or what
you believe is such a non-cliche
that it has a solid chance of
generating quick ROI.
Contracts
Keep your books tight on
the back end of things. Verify
everything and look for ways to
cut costs in terms of contracts.
Start with your payroll vendor.
They don't sell a tangible product
affected by commodities,
and the increased labor costs
have only made them more
profitable. They'll play ball on
negotiating way faster than a
food vendor right now. Same
for ISP and phone providers.
After that, start cutting stuff
that is not necessary. Take
tasks on if they're costly, and
you can handle them in-house.
But again, if you take away
things that add hours to your
week and you end up working
in your business and not on
your business, it will be a dumb
move. Roll up your sleeves and
get smart. Do not take a recession
as a reason to roll up your
sleeves and become a glorified
employee.
MIKE BAUSCH is the owner
of Andolini's Pizzeria in Tulsa,
Oklahoma. Instagram: @
mikeybausch
http://www.PIZZATODAY.COM
Pizza Today - October 2022

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