# Zany Pizza Day



## d.c. (Nov 2, 2008)

During the past two weeks, sales at our student operated restaurant have plummeted by 50%. More and more students seem to be leaving campus during our hour lunch break.

Having read about odd pizzas at another thread, I thought about advertising for a zany pizza day for this coming Thursday.

This morning my Culinary II and III students created this cheeseburger and tater tot pizza. We talked about other pizzas to make ... a taco pizza (taco meat and sauce instead of Marinara, cheese, and tortilla chips ... and buffalo chicken nugget pizza.








The students created posters that will go up tomorrow. Student volunteers will come in at 6 AM to begin making mixing pizza dough.

The pizzas will be sold in conjunction with all of the items on our static menu: green chile burritos, bean burritos, and mixed burritos, pizza bread, and loaded baked potatoes.

In addition to the pizza we'll introduce an orange cream milkshake.

I am looking forward to seeing whether or advertising and student word of mouth will draw extra customers and increase our sales.

I'll post an update come Thursday.


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## dillbert (Jul 2, 2008)

as suggested in the other thread, a "survey" of the stuff the kids want would seem entirely appropriate - a 50% drop seems to indicate the advertised menu ain't gittin' it.

you can lead a teen to a zany pizza, but you can't make 'em eat it . . .

I'd go for the "popular junk food" menu with some alternatives prominently placed. them teens might find "other stuff" entirely rad and edible!


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## d.c. (Nov 2, 2008)

Hah-hah-hah! Zany pizza day shot our daily sales figures up by 40%. We're still 10% down from our average during September but the made from scratch deep dish pizza crust and the novelty fillings attracted a lot of attention. 

The most popular pizza by far was the buffalo chicken tender pizza. 

I will add pictures later on tonight!


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## cypressrider (Oct 7, 2008)

Try doing some sushi. I would also try some trendy healthy type foods that you advertise as such. Get rid of the buritos to a certain extent and just keep changing up your menu. Take suggestions and maybe even have contests for menu ideas. Kids love all the recognition you can give them.


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## d.c. (Nov 2, 2008)

Sushi won't sell to rural kids in Arizona.

The contest for menu ideas is interesting. We tried this last year and had several kids tell us that they wanted grilled steaks. The problem is that they don't want to PAY for these steaks. I can't sell a steak lunch for $1.50. 

My static menu has also been set by the building administration. When I was first hired, I was told that I would have full control over my budget, operations, and menu. Not true. 

Building administration routinely raids my department for supplies that my department receives no reimbursement for. They often take supplies without even telling me that they did this. This has wreaked havoc on my inventory control and makes it more challenging for me to defray expenses.

Towards the end of last year, I was told to adopt a static menu and was even told what to put on the static menu. Most recently, the principal decided that my cleaning standards weren't stringent enough. He entered my department after hours and put 100 colored stickers throughout my lab and kitchen. Each sticker bore the word "clean me." The vast majority were on hardwater stains. A few were on scorch marks. It took me 1 1/2 hours to remove these stickers and thoroughly disrupted instruction and production. When I tried to tell the principal that hard water stains have nothing to do with sanitation, he refused to listen and told me that we had to have "higher expectations" than the county health department. 

The latter incident was the final straw. When I submitted my resignation, effective for the end of this school year, the superintendent intervened. In exchange for withdrawing my resignation, she essentially told the principal to butt out. 

If looks could kill, I would have been dead and buried two weeks ago. 

The only thing really keeping me afloat right now is that although my department is under his nominal control, he is not my immediate supervisor. If he was, I think my last evaluation would have been scorching.


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## bughut (Aug 18, 2007)

Dont know how relevant this is, but i was asked to cater a freshers week do at a local shopping mall for 300 students. they specified the menu and it included pizza. I let them know it wasnt something we normally did, but they insisted and i said i would have to buy it in as we wernt geared up to produce our own on such a scale... No problem.

I bought in the best i could find to fit their meagre budget, including some really cheap n nasties which we added to (Not proud) guess what they went for like locusts to a crop. You wouldnt believe it. Cold cheappo yukkie pizza...I will never ever agree to a job like that again...Call me a food snob, but NEVER AGAIN


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