How to attract customers to a pizzeria? Discover how to revive your business and increase revenue by reading our dedicated article.
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to significant changes in the work environment and customer needs. This situation has made it essential to adapt and make changes in all sectors, especially in the restaurant industry.
For example, the long periods of forced closure have forced restaurants and pizzerias to operate only through takeout and home delivery, a trend already on the rise in recent years.
To help restaurateurs cope with these market changes and grow their business, we have prepared a guide with the best tips for renewing and attracting customers to a pizzeria, thus increasing revenue.
To revive your business, it will be necessary to work on every aspect of the activity, in order to attract new customers, fully satisfy them, and make them come back.
Let’s see how to do it.
- How to attract customers to a pizzeria?
- How to increase the productivity of a pizzeria?
- What is the best professional oven to attract customers?
How to attract customers to a pizzeria?
How to attract customers to a pizzeria in Italy, where the competition is so high?
It’s definitely not an easy task, but by implementing the right marketing strategies, it’s possible to revive your business and increase the number of customers.
To stand out from the competition, it’s essential to ensure that your brand is immediately recognizable by customers.
A good way to do this could be to create a coordinated image by customizing the clothing of employees. For example, shirts and polo shirts with the logo and colors of the pizzeria, and coordinated uniforms with the style and atmosphere of your establishment.
Once the brand is well recognizable, it’s possible to think of suitable strategies to promote the business and increase its visibility, with the aim of attracting new customers.
Three ideal marketing actions to attract customers to a pizzeria are:
- Make use of outdoor spaces
- Manage take-away and organize delivery
- Offer online services
Let’s briefly explore the listed points.
1. Make use of outdoor spaces
Using outdoor areas is a competitive advantage for restaurateurs even in the long term. In fact, many people enjoy eating outdoors. Additionally, outdoor tables can attract new customers to the pizzeria.
Tips for maximizing the use of outdoor spaces should obviously be tailored based on the specific case. Each business has its own characteristics, which depend on the type of pizza it intends to offer, its location, and its style.
A first suggestion on how to attract customers to a pizzeria by using outdoor spaces concerns the arrangement of previously unused areas. Even the garden at the back can become a welcoming place to have customers eat with some work and a small investment.
Another idea concerns those who have enough outdoor space to decide to set up the pizzeria outside, perhaps because of space issues in the indoor kitchen.
In this case, the kitchen will gain space and customers will be satisfied by observing the process of making and cooking pizzas in an aesthetically appealing and designed oven.
2. Manage take-away and organize delivery
During the pandemic, take-out and home delivery services have experienced a considerable increase.
However, effectively managing take-out orders can be a challenge, as they tend to accumulate all at the same time. In these cases, it’s advisable to stagger the reservations to avoid delays in service.
It should also be considered that customers are usually less tolerant of delayed take-out or home delivery orders, compared to waiting at a table (where they can order drinks or have something to nibble on while waiting for their pizza).
Regarding home delivery, you can choose between external platforms such as Just Eat or Deliveroo or organize internal delivery logistics.
Both solutions have advantages and disadvantages: organizing deliveries internally is much more management-intensive but allows for a closer relationship with the customer and greater margin on the revenue.
On the other hand, relying on external platforms eliminates the managerial burden and allows reaching all people who usually use these solutions to order food.
3. Offer online services
Digital presence is crucial for attracting customers to a pizzeria.
It’s advisable to create a website, an app, or have social channels to increase visibility and interaction with customers.
Innovative services, such as courier geolocation for customers waiting for pizza at home or the ability to order directly from the website, can be an added value. In the latter case, there’s also the possibility to obtain customer data and thus be able to predict how many and which pizzas to make each day.
How to increase the productivity of a pizzeria?
To meet the growing demand, we will need to learn to work more efficiently.
In other words, the goal is to increase workload without a significant increase in effort.
A crucial factor is the choice of qualified personnel, both in the dining area and in the kitchen. For example, a fast pizza chef can be one of the most effective strategies to increase productivity.
However, in addition to salary, which should reflect greater competence and professionalism, even the best pizza chef will be slowed down if the kitchen lacks the right equipment.
The same applies to the dining staff. Having a reservations manager capable of gradually staggering takeout orders and seamlessly integrating them with table orders can greatly facilitate work.
This, therefore, contributes to increased productivity and enables us to satisfy more customers in less time without compromising quality standards.
A different approach to increasing the revenue of a restaurant business could be diversifying into parallel activities alongside the traditional service.
We are referring, for example, to established establishments that start organizing (and selling) cooking or baking classes, both in-person and online.
Such activities typically take place during the restaurant’s closed hours to avoid interfering with regular service preparation and do not alter the primary way of performing work. They represent an additional source of income.
Another parallel activity could be a food truck: a mobile kitchen or pizzeria that allows reaching people in high-traffic areas.
In this case, due to the space and equipment limitations inherent in these solutions, it is customary to organize the work by completing all preparations in the establishment. This way, there will be very few operational needs during the mobile service.
What is the best professional oven to attract customers?
One of the most effective solutions when wondering how to attract customers to a pizzeria and increase productivity is definitely to invest in a professional oven that suits one’s changing needs.
The evaluation parameters involved in choosing a new professional oven for one’s pizzeria can be extremely diverse. In most cases, they may include:
- The fuel that powers the oven;
- The availability of space for installation;
- The choice to work with a visible oven for customers.
Depending on the specific case, such choices can increase the productivity and revenue of the pizzeria.
For example, with a new gas oven instead of an outdated electric oven, we can achieve higher cooking temperatures without incurring high operating costs. This way, the pizza cooking time can be reduced, and the service speed can be increased.
On the other hand, many pizzerias may decide to replace an old gas or wood-fired oven with a state-of-the-art electric professional oven.
Innovative cooking tools, such as our Bull, Diamond, and Visor ovens, embody the best of technology to:
- Improve thermal efficiency (high and consistent temperatures with low energy consumption);
- Facilitate work in the pizzeria.
Especially for those working with a visible oven, choosing a design professional oven is an excellent way to increase productivity and attract customers simultaneously.
In cases where a significant leap in productivity is needed, one could opt for a tunnel oven. This type of cooking equipment can streamline the work of pizza makers and thus speed up the service, thanks to its simplified management.
Italforni’s range dedicated to catering professionals allows every type of pizzeria to find the perfect model for their needs, enabling them to increase the number of customers and the revenue of their business.