I’m not in danger… I AM the danger.

Domino’s™ is an Icon in the Pizza Biz… love ‘em or hate ‘em, you just GOTTA know who they are.  And yet, they’ve been going through some ‘self flagelation’ on the order of pre-renaissance religious zealots in an effort to tweak their “Brand”.  

Does that tell you anything about ‘Branding’?   If it doesn’t  check your pulse because you just may be dead!

 They’ve gone through major  brand upheavals… from the “Our Pizza Stinks” commercials to the soon to announced ‘Pizza Theater’ effort.

 Make no mistake about it…. these guys are deadly serious.

 Take a look as what’s  happened to other major players:

 Pizza’s momentum slowed down no doubt about it. 

In a recent QSR magazine study of fast food dollars spent, pizza chains had four of the top 25 spots and seven of the top 50 spots, and no fresh blood was cracking the list!.

  •  One chain dropped 1,000 outlets and $600 million in sales over the last 10 years. 
  • Pizzeria Uno parent company, Uno Chicago Grill, file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2010.  
  • Sbarro followed soon after. 
  •  CiCi’s Pizza once a big  up-and-comer  and tought it would hit 1,000 units. Store count remains in the mid-600s  

Today, consumers expanded their range with fast-casual outlets like Chipotle and Panera grabbing share.  Add in some tough retail offers like “ gourmet “frozen pizzas and take-and-bake supermarket options and well, there you are!

“I’m not in danger… I AM the danger” 

‘Walter White’  Breaking  Bad

 Here’s the ‘CHEAT’   You only have to beat the in YOUR backyard….    What do you care if they are loosing locations in another state…. If they are blowing millions on failed Ad’s      let ‘em!

 Just make sure YOU are the Killer in your market place.

 Simply put –  with all the money and all the noise out  there you’d better get your BRAND identified, sharply honed and communicated to your customers… NOW!

Look, I a’int saying it’s easy… but is sure can be FUN and VERY PROFITABLE…  

 Here’s your choices …  

  • Ignore this and get flattened by the STEAM ROLLERS out there  or 
  • GET IN THE GAME and learn how to do this.

And the simple truth is that there is a method you can follow and you can craft a brand that ‘RESONATES’ with your marketplace in a way the BIG BOYS just can NEVER do!

 Here’s some ideas:

  •  Get your ‘story’ straight: As a species, we love stories and GOOD storytellers are highly prized!  Think Hemmingway, Richard Prior,  or even your cousin that just seems to tell a good story.
  • Tell your ‘story’ clearly:  Make sure you weave the story into everything you do as a Pizzeria.  Every AD, every picture everything
  • Make sure it’s interesting: Crap like ‘fresh ingredients’ won’t cut it.. ( It better be fresh or else…)  Compare that with “…my family has been making Pizza so long that  I practically grew up under a pizza oven!”

 Stop wasting time, get your act together and ….

 Stay Sharp!

 PJ

NEED SOME HELP??

A while back I wrote a guide on branding…. I even put it in an E-Course and some savvy Pizzaolos still have it.   If you want it, shoot me an email with ‘E Course’  in the subject line and I’ll resurrect it for the first 10 responders.  It’ll cost you, cause it’ll cost me to get the darn this back on line.  Figure $40 for the 8 lessons course… that’s a paltry $5 per lesson…. CHEAP AT TWICE THE PRICE.

Want it in ‘hard copy’?  … look, I really don’t want to go through that hassle.  But if you just ‘gotta have it’ in print, make it $200 (Yeah, printing costs money!) and I’ll try that too.

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What did you do for Valentines Day?

 

What did you do for Valentines Day?

 How about it?  Did you offer your customers some ‘love’ or just blow them of with the same old same old…

 Listen , the relationship with your customers should be nurtured and taken care of the same as any relationship that means a lot to you.  Make an effort, keep it alive, put something into it… or you’ll loose it.

Did you do anything to help your customers deal with the overwhelming pressure that builds up around this time of year?  Did you find a way to “enter the conversation going on in their heads” and make an effort to bring value to the equation?

One of my coaching members took my advice and offered Valentines Package that included: 

  • A Heart Shaped Pizza
  • Dozen Silk Roses
  • Box of Chocolates
  • Romantic DVD (Disney Variety)

With a limit offer of 50 packages, they sold out fast.  He plans on pre-selling this next year on a ‘premium’ basis.  More offers for more holidays are on the horizon.

 What did YOU do for Valentines Day?

Stay Sharp!

PJ

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Groundhog day all over again

 If you haven’t seen the 1993 film Groundhog Day  – see it.  It’s a great movie and it operates on many levels that a casual viewer will miss.

The plot line goes something like this… 

Bill Murray plays Phil Connor- egocentric weatherman in Pittsburgh.   He is assigned to cover “Groundhog Day,” in Punxsutawney Pa   Phil (Bill) considers this gig way beneath him and gives out HUGE doses of attitude.    

He covers the event. the groundhog sees his shadow and that should be the end of it.   Cut to the plot device  – Phil/Bill wakes up the next day to find…. that it is Groundhog Day all over again.  

The rest of the movie is Phil/Bill reliving the same day over and over (and over) again.  Nobody else around him knows that the same day is being repeated ad nauseum.   He starts to think he has gone crazy and it resolves with Phil/Bill learning how to take advantage of the knowledge he gets from reliving the same day. 

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Director Harold Ramis estimated that the Phil / Bill Murray character took 30 – 40 years to get it right! 

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Toward the end of a 30 – 40 year period, he knows just what people will do, say and think. Instead of ‘wising up’ he uses the knowledge to dig himself deeper in the “endless” time loop!     Its’ a cute and entertaining comedy with a dark subplot.  

What’s the take away for you… 

Like the Bill Murray / Phil character, it’s too easy to get stuck living the ‘same day’ over and over again.  Think about it…  how much of your life is Groundhog Day all over again?  I’d be willing to bet that there’s a list of things a yard long that you do the same way over and over again every day with out learning a damned thing from it….

 You send out menus, use door hangers, Val Pak coupons and yellow page ads the same way day after day after day. Pretty much like the Murray character with the next day a repeat of the day before and the day before and the day before that.  

TOUGH LOVE MOMENT:  

Unless you break the cycle you’ll live an endless loop of same old same old until you either get too old or die.   

Too heavy for Pizzeria Owners??  NO, It a’int.   

Ok campers… what’s the point?  You can go through the rest of your life repeating the same day over and over  (and over). Or you can grab yourself by the proverbial collar and get on with the business of creating the life you want.

 START HEREGet a free copy of our yearend review – the Gateway Discovery process. (Send an Email to Info@PizzaProfitSystems.Com with “Gateway” in the subject line.   

START NOW:  Decide here and now to break out of the DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN trap and start doing the SMART THINGS you need to do.   

Go to the top of this page and sign up for our 12 month coaching program…. You’ve got nothing to loose.  It’s a pay as you go monthly deal that cost’s less than a half tank if gas!   

Follow the lessons, put the program(s) into operation and You’re On Your Way!

Stay Sharp!

PJ

 

 

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All Real Progress Begins With The Truth…

No strings no add on’s –  my gift to you for the 2011  

All real progress begins with the truth.   If you want to get on the right track,  you need to know where you are first.  Then, make an honest evaluation of your current situation and position and  ‘own’ it. Only then – can you take the steps needed to get where you’d rather be.

What you need is a kind of  “COMPASS to point you in the right direction.  The same way that hikers and explorers rely on a compass to point out true North, you need a way to find your own True North in your business and in your life

So….  A while back, I put something together for my Coaching Club Members to do just that very thing! They (and I) have been using it for years.  It’s the first order of business at the end of the “old year”.  It helps to “RE-ORIENT” you and get you pointed “TRUE NORTH”. 

Because I think this is SO IMPORTANT  for ALL PIZZERIA OWNERS  (Now More Than Ever!) I’m putting it out there for you too. Click here info@pizzaprofitsystems.com and put “ Real Truth Compass” in the subject line for a FREE COPY of the ‘Real Truth Compass’© tool that will help you get a handle on things.

 

Limited time (3 Day) offer…

Use the tool, complete the exercise(s) and get your bearings.  If you’d like a review, email it back and I’ll do a CONFIDENTIAL review and comment on the first 15 I get.   It’s good for the soul and let’s me work “On The Side of  The Angels” but, sorry, I can’t extend beyond the 3 day limit!

First come, first served,  You Snooze You Looze…..

Stay Sharp! 

 

PJ

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Important Things Are Too Dangerous To Talk About With Strangers

It’s all about the relationship

“In my neighborhood, if somebody comes up and says, “Hey Bob, this is Joey, he’s a friend of ours.  He wants to talk to you”. I don’t say, “What about”? And Joey doesn’t say, “I want to discuss X Y & Z”.

 He says, “Come sit down.  Have something to eat.”  Then we sit and get to know each other. We talk about our families. We talk sports or politics. We talk about …whatever.  And IF we get comfortable with each other, issues can be brought up.

But, the relationship comes first, because important issues are too dangerous to be brought up between strangers.”

 EATING WITH THE ENEMY   Robert Egan  St Martin’s Press

Wise guy references aside, this IS an important point.  If you want to “talk” to someone about IMPORTANT issues, then you have to establish a relationship.

Ignore this and  YOU will be ignored.

In the Pizza Biz we deal with very important issues…  Food  & Money

If you want to get into a conversation with your customers, you need to give them a GOOD REASON why they should talk to you.

 The bar has been raised… and raised high

 Platitudes like    Great Taste… and    Old World Flavor…   DON’T CUT IT ANYMORE

You have to establish the relationship with your potential customer to get them to buy from you AND you have to CEMENT the relationship with your current customers to get them to KEEP buying from you.

It ain’t easy,  but it IS rewarding…

Stay  Sharp,

 

PJ Giannini

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A Short History of Pizza

Almost 3000 years of food evolution has taken place for the pizza pie to reach its current delicious state today. Although flat breads have been around for 6000 years, the word “pizziare” started appearing in Italian writings as far back as 1000 B.C. The word pizza itself is believed to have originated from an “Old Italian” word meaning “a point,” which in turn became the Italian word “pizziare,” which means to pinch, or to pluck.

Tomatoes were first introduced to Italy from South America in 1522. At first the tomato was believed to be poisonous. Fortunately, the poorer peasants of the region finally overcame their doubts about tomatoes in the 17th century and began adding it to the bread dough, and the first pizzas were created.

As the popularity of the tomato became widespread, mozzarella cheese was slowly gaining ground. Mozzarella had become available in Italy only after water buffalo were imported from India in the 7th century, (mozzarella was first made with water buffalo milk). Its popularity grew very slowly until the last half of the 18th century, but the cheese and tomatoes did not meet on a pizza until 1889.

In 1889, an Italian tavern owner named Don Raffaele Esposito developed a pizza featuring tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil – ingredients bearing the colors of the Italian flag. He named it the Margherita Pizza, after the Queen of Italy, Margherita Teresa Giovanni. Thus, modern-day tomato-and-cheese pizza was born.

In the later half of the 19th century, pizza migrated to America with the Italians. By the turn of the century, the Italian immigrants had begun to open their own bakeries and were selling groceries as well as pizza. Gennaro Lombardi opened the first true U.S. pizzeria in 1905 at 53 1/3 Spring Street in New York City, a part of town known as “Little Italy.”

Source: Wheat Foods Council www.wheatfoods.org

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