Across the industry, a pattern is developing where trade is relatively quiet Monday to Wednesday and steady Thursday through to Saturday.
This is in part attributed to Covid, with some shops not managing to claw back their lunchtime trade in full, and also due to the surge in energy prices which simply makes it less viable at the current time for shops to open during the day in the early part of the week.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t an opportunity to boost sales – and more, importantly, your bottom line – in that first part of the week, as Mike Crees, managing director at T.Quality explains.
“The quieter times are actually perfect for encouraging additional sales. You have the time to invest in speaking with customers, to engage with them, to tell them about your offers, try out new ideas and ask for feedback,” he says.
After speaking with a shop owner who worked out he sold one pot of curry sauce for every 14 orders, Mike asked what the difference in profit would be if he could get that to 4 in 14 or 7 in 14 and the answer was simple – “huge!”.
Mike adds: “If shops can give away a free pot of curry sauce with every order Monday through to Wednesday it would get more people to try it, which has the potential for people to add it to their future orders. Before long that additional pot of curry sauce becomes a habit that people purchase without even thinking.”
Suggesting shops move down to 4oz pots instead of 7oz for the offer, Mike adds: “In effect, shops are only giving away hot water and a bit of mix so it’s literally costing a few pennies but the added value it offers in terms of repeat orders could be huge.”
For shops that don’t sell curry sauce, the same offer could easily be extended to mushy peas, tartare sauce or gravy.
Running a promotion such as this also allows shops to engage with their customers on social media. “The fact you are offering something for free always goes down well with customers, but it’s also something new to talk to customers about, which helps you stay top of mind when they are thinking about where to eat,” says Mike.
“Accompanied by a good quality photograph – which, let’s be honest, everyone can take on their mobile phone these days – shops stand to make a significant impact on their bottom line with very little effort and even less cost.”
Having spent the last two weeks visiting shops Mike, was struck by one operator who had a member of staff ask customers if they would like to “dip a chip” in a pot of curry sauce whilst they were waiting in the queue. The result was a massive take up on people buying curry.
Mike adds: “We all drive past McDonald’s and KFC and see queues at lunchtime so clearly people are eating lunch out. Fish and chip shops should want to attract that footfall and one way they can do that is to make sure they have what consumers want to eat at the price point they want to pay. The chip shop doing “dip a chip” clearly made a decision that they wanted some of that market and did something about it!”
