Ideas wanted on how to increase turnover

[hughescw]

Hi all

Just wondering if anyone could throw some ideas at me, I have opened a sandwich / deli shop last week things are going quiet good obviously the busy times are between 12 and 2

I am looking for ideas how to increase my takings , with the time I have in the mornings and late afternoon I have a large kitchen so it's quiet possible I could start my own products, I don't really want to get a sandwich van as this would increase cost and i would need to get more staff,it doesn't have to be sandwich related anything to do with food

 

[Psl]

What about homemade soup.
Full breakfast delivered to the desk.
Homemade stew.

 

[Paul_Rosser]

Approach local firms and ask if they ever need food for meetings, after work events etc.

The ones I've worked for spent a fortune on sandwiches for meetings.

 

[Talay]

Approach local firms and ask if they ever need food for meetings, after work events etc.

The ones I've worked for spent a fortune on sandwiches for meetings.

Good ideas but do your homework well before speaking to any of them. The price is not what you charge in the shop and you'd do well to find out exactly what the competition offer both in price and range of products.

Some suppliers offer a bewildering array of possibilities with full online capability for ordering and invoicing. You would need to consider that in terms of your capacity to deliver.

 

[Psl]

Do you open for breakfast?

Freshly made Porridge in handy size tub?

 

[Paul_Rosser]

Good ideas but do your homework well before speaking to any of them. The price is not what you charge in the shop and you'd do well to find out exactly what the competition offer both in price and range of products.

Some suppliers offer a bewildering array of possibilities with full online capability for ordering and invoicing. You would need to consider that in terms of your capacity to deliver.

In my experience companies pay a lot more, last supplier I dealt with charged £20 for a platter of sandwiches, which actually equated to 6. In the end we started using Pret as their normal retail prices were lower.

But agree with looking at what the competition are doing, always good advice for any business.

 

[Vrs_Ltd]

Breakfast offers - free tea/coffee with all breakfast menus. Afternoon tea/cream teas.

We do this and works very well, but remember customers want quality as well as a good price............

 

[Alan]

Chilli sauces seem to be a very popular thing at the moment. Not sure what is involved in creating your own recipes and the production process, but you obviously have your own sales venue and footfall to sell to and use slack time in the kitchen for production.

 

[raavn111]

Always maintain your food quality even when you get famous in your business i hope what i m trying to say...

 

[raavn111]

Never cheat your costumer...

BEST OF LUCK
....................

 

[Philip Hoyle]

If you've got relatively easy/handy parking nearby, then go for the breakfast bun trade especially mid morning for tradesmen, van drivers, etc. It takes time to build up the trade as they're not going to come every morning, but given a few months, you should build up a decent trade to make it worthwhile.

As for afternoons, you could try to expand your offerings into deli-style goods, cooked meats, cheeses, etc., which may work if you've got a steady stream of passers-by. That's the key really - what you do will depend on your location, i.e. road or pedestrianised, number of people walking by at each time of day etc. One size never fits all.

Alternatively, use your spare time to use the kitchen to full by making your own instead of buying in, for things like sandwich fillings, pies, etc - making your own may be cheaper and you may get a competitive edge to keep a loyal customer base if it's better quality.

Just another point - are you keeping the customers you've already got? Is it usually familiar faces every day, or is it a steady stream of new people you've not seen before? If you're not keeping customers and building up repeat business, then you may be doing something wrong, i.e. too expensive, poor quality, too long to serve, poor product range, etc. It's definitely something to keep an eye on - OK people won't come back every day, but you should start to see the same people at least weekly or maybe 2/3 times per week.

 

[businessfunding]

Are you certain that you want to increase your turnover?

How about you look at increasing your margins - often far more efficient!

 

[superdooper500]

In my opinion it's all about satisfying market demands. Is there a lack of catering companies supplying local business? Is there a demand for local corner shops to sell your branded sandwiches and sweet treats? Is there perhaps a series of commercial premises locally who would want a breakfast service?

Is there any way you might consider expanding your brand and supplying products to other shops/outlets on a B2B basis, or are you only focusing on servicing the end user?

It sounds like you have some spare resource in your operation that can be used for a food based venture that may or may not be part of your existing sandwich shop/deli venture, now is the time to discover where the gap in the market is and construct a product around that using your available spare resource, as opposed to the other way around.

 

[garyk]

As others have said target breakfast trade and go for high margin products like porridge and soup. Alternatively do a 'willy wonka' put £20 note in the wrapping of breakfast rolls and publicise it 'win £20 in one of breakfast baps!'

Gary

 

[Talay]

You could do a lot worse than look at this offering from Birleys https://www.birleysandwiches.co.uk/site/

Their lunchtime soups do a roaring trade, both limited eat in and take away. They seem to be going from strength to strength in the 15 years I've known the company.

Also when looking for their website, I came across this nice one from a small independent http://www.bentleysrollsandsandwiches.co.uk/

 

[Storage King]

Ways to increase sales:-

1. Get more customers
2. Get them to buy more often
3. Get them to spend more per sale

A few suggestions:-

Interesting window displays
Clear posters with offers
Word of mouth
Coupon in local newspaper
Leaflet drop
Reward scheme for regulars (i.e. stamp for every time they buy a cappuccino and when they've collect 10 stamps they get a free muffin)
Special events / promotions (i.e. Monday Madness, every Monday all rolls B.O.G.O.F ,or free drink with every sandwich on last Friday of the month)
Meal Deals - half price crisps with every sandwich

 

[raavn111]

Ways to increase sales:-

1. Get more customers
2. Get them to buy more often
3. Get them to spend more per sale

A few suggestions:-

Interesting window displays
Clear posters with offers
Word of mouth
Coupon in local newspaper
Leaflet drop
Reward scheme for regulars (i.e. stamp for every time they buy a cappuccino and when they’ve collect 10 stamps they get a free muffin)
Special events / promotions (i.e. Monday Madness, every Monday all rolls B.O.G.O.F ,or free drink with every sandwich on last Friday of the month)
Meal Deals – half price crisps with every sandwich

AND SHOULD MAINTAIN PRODUCT QUALITY