Customers don’t want to eat the same thing over and over, and Hunt Brother’s Pizza is offering a solution to c-store owners.
Convenience stores are always searching for ways to boost their sales, and limited time offers (LTOs) can provide the excitement that will boost business. LTOs can be used as seasonal promotions, or just to liven-up every day business.
Convenience stores are always on the hunt for new easy-to-cook items and flavors to offer their customers. And, of course, items with bacon are always an added bonus.
When Hunt Brothers Pizza introduced Chicken Bacon Ranch as a new LTO flavor in Spring 2015, storeowner Amarinder Singh found it was just the right flavor for his customers at the 340 Fuel Depot in Berryville, Va. Across all stores, Hunt Brothers Pizza has found its Buffalo Chicken LTO pizza to be the perennial fan favorite. However, Singh found the Chicken Bacon Ranch pizza better appealed to his customers because it offered a milder flavor combination.
LTOs allow Hunt Brothers Pizza to explore new flavor trends appealing to customers’ tastes. By bringing a variety of LTOs to stores, Hunt Brothers Pizza also helps store owners customize their product offering to maximize sales potential. As the only store in town selling Hunt Brothers Pizza, Singh capitalized on his corner of the market.
LTO Pizza Nearly Triples Sales of Overall Pizza Program
The 340 Fuel Depot started selling Chicken Bacon Ranch pizzas immediately when they were introduced in April 2015 and sold them through May until product availability ran out. Hunt Brothers Pizza offers the market a limited quantity of LTOs as a way to heighten customer demand, drive spikes in immediate store sales, and capture the halo effect of additional Hunt Brothers Pizza product sales. In the two-month period that his store was selling Chicken Bacon Ranch pizza, Singh saw a 172% increase in total pizza units sold.
“Customers were excited when Chicken Bacon Ranch came out. The sales never went down. We did pretty good with it, and we were still growing until it was sold out,” said Singh. “Customers were still talking about it and were interested to know when it was going to come back.”
Grab-and-Go Hunks Stack up Sales
LTOs—like all other Hunt Brothers Pizza pies—can be sold as a whole pizza or as a Hunk A Pizza, which is a quarter of a whole pizza ready for on-the-go shoppers. The 340 Fuel Depot found its niche with Hunks, and Singh reports they sold between 10 and 12 whole pizzas by the Hunk daily.
“I was always stocked with it because it was a popular pizza,” Singh explained. “I was putting it in the warmer from 8 a.m. until dinner time.
“We always keep it fresh,” he stated. “If it’s fresh, it’ll sell all day long.”
Singh’s policy to keep fresh Hunks of Chicken Bacon Ranch pizza in the warmers paid off. His store’s overall sales noticeably increased at the launch of the LTO, with a continual growth in sales during the product’s window of availability.
“The Chicken Bacon Ranch LTO was very successful, and I wish Hunt Brothers Pizza kept it all the time. I guess that’s what gets the customers excited, being that it’s a limited time offer,” said Singh. “I get customers that are always looking for something new. They don’t want to eat the same thing over and over, so it definitely helps.”
Singh’s overall report on the inaugural Chicken Bacon Ranch LTO? “If I had to give it a number, it would be a 10 out of 10 for success.”