Looking for a way to increase dessert sales, Dean Feltner found the answer with a Pie of the Month Program that resulted in a 30% dessert growth in 2011.
Feltner, corporate manager of the 21-unit Family Table Restaurant, said that the results of the new pie program have been sweet. “In most of our units we have a few traditional pie varieties on the regular menu, but sales really took off when we added a special pie of the month,” says Feltner. “These were new sales to customers who otherwise wouldn’t have ordered dessert but saw the promotion and tried it.”
Sara Lee broker Ryan Smith, of Hockenberg Newburgh, introduced the promotion with a monthly calendar of varieties. “Once we got started, we made some revisions because we learned that specialty cream pies had stronger sales than traditional fruit varieties,” Feltner says.
Feltner also ran a contest for servers and emphasized the opportunity for bigger tips due to increased check averages. Units also used table tents to promote the featured flavors. “They’re very effective in drawing attention to the offer and to our desserts in general,” Feltner says. “One unit received their delivery on Friday, put the table tents out and by the time I stopped in on Sunday, they’d already sold out. It really does work.”
The Chocolate Mint Cream Layer Pie was particularly popular, Feltner adds, so much so that the lineup was revised to feature it again in December. “We went through close to 100 cases in April, thanks to the promotion. If we just ran it on the menu without that extra push, we might have gone through 25 cases. The table tents and the partnership with Sara Lee definitely increased our sales and it’s a program we plan to continue in 2012.”