News
Mapping success
Point-of-sale systems can be an effective tool for increasing the efficiency of a pizzeria's delivery operation.
March 18, 2007
The ability to quickly deliver a hot pizza has been the foundation of service for successful pizza operations worldwide. On the other hand, an inefficient delivery operation can translate into cold food and dissatisfied customers, ultimately spelling doom for a budding pizza business.
More and more, pizzeria operators are using their point-of-sale system to gain a pizza-delivery edge.
POS systems can integrate with mapping software to calculate the most efficient route to a delivery. Mapping software also can give a restaurant the ability to calculate delivery charges based on the distance rather than a flat fee per order.
"We have 50 or 60 different zones sectioned off in our delivery area," said Pierre Coutu, co-owner of Diana's Gourmet Pizzeria in Winnipeg, Manitoba. "We track mileage, we know what our hot zones are and we know where our dead zones are."
Coutu uses Microsoft MapPoint to track delivery-area zones and times.
MapPoint was integrated with a POS system from Abbotsford, British Columbia-based Speedline Solutions Inc. Using MapPoint, Coutu's POS automatically calculates the delivery charge based on mileage and adds it to the customers' bill.
Coutu's system can print either a map to the delivery address or step-by-step instructions to aid the delivery driver. The system also can aid in driver safety by flagging fraudulent addresses, he said.
"If someone tries to give us an address that does not exist, the computer will recognize that and flag it as an invalid address," Coutu said. "If you're trying to enter 127 Main St. and the computer knows that street only goes up to 125, it won't let you put in the address without a manager override."
Working the numbers
Tracking the hottest delivery zones can help pizzeria operators better target their marketing efforts. Mapping and demographic analysis of the customer database for all of their restaurant locations gave the 136-unit Hull, Iowa-based chain Pizza Ranch a deeper understanding of who their customers are and how to market to them.
"That allows us to extrapolate exactly what percentage of our sales is coming from a specific area," said Jon Moss, Pizza Ranch brand director. "We then use that map to create targeted zones for our marketing efforts."
Pizza Ranch uses customer-sale and demographic analysis to market to specific guest segments, crafting targeted messages and offers to increase order size and frequency.
"It lets us separate facts from assumptions," Moss said. "It helps us assess whether a particular new product warrants being added to the menu and lets us measure customer retention and acquisition."
Systems can also spot customers who haven't visited the restaurant in a certain period of time, prompting the operator to send reminder mailings designed to recapture the business.
"For most people, pizza is a regular occasion — once a week, twice a month, or every Tuesday and Friday," said Jennifer Wiebe, marketing manager for SpeedLine Solutions. "If a customer who used to order regularly stops calling for 60 days, typically something has happened. Maybe they're trying a new pizzeria. Maybe their last two pizza deliveries arrived cold. Maybe they had a bad service experience."
Seeing where the problems are
The POS system can be a great tool to spot problems in an operation, said Mark Roberson, information technology director for Wichita, Kansas-based Restaurant Management Co., a 130-unit Pizza Hut franchisee.
Restaurant Management Co.'s POS system can track how long it takes for orders to get out the door, and send a delivery-time report to store managers after the fact.
"Even though it's a hindsight view, before they can do their schedules they look at this and see where the problems are," Roberson said. "You can look at the report and see you're having a problem 10 p.m. to midnight, or lunchtime or whenever."
The company has developed its own analysis tools using POS information to spot problems and create efficient, cost-effective schedules, Roberson said.
"The secret to making things operate on time is scheduling, and if you don't have enough drivers, you're dead," he said. "By giving the managers a tool to know when they need to have those drivers, you are giving them the solution to the problem."
Related Media
Subscribe
Get the latest news and resources from Pizza Marketplace.
