Adam Goldman a Dunkin’ Donuts Franchise Owner in New Jersey from time to time will submit tips on creative ways to increase sales and profits, you can contact Adam via email: agoldman@babsonpartners.com
In shop Sampling of Coolatas Increases Coolata Sales
Summer presents franchisees with a great opportunity to let guests try many of Dunkin’s new Coolatta flavors, however being a frozen beverage this creates a challenge with how to keep it frozen yet still readily available to sample.
We came up with an easy method to sample that we used in our stores on weekends throughout the summer. It worked so well, that we now set the display up every afternoon right in between the registers offering our guests a sample of two of our rotating flavors before they place there order.
By using an ice bath, the frozen product will stay cold and keep it’s consistency for over an hour, even at the stores average room temperature.
We took two large iced beverage cups and placed one side of Velcro on the bottom of each cup. Then place the other side of Velcro in a deep clear RTU pan from the sandwich station. This will keep the cups steady both while filling the pan with ice and when the bath begins to melt. Place both cups on top of the corresponding Velcro within the pan and carefully fill the pan full of ice, ensuring that cubes surround all sides of the cups.
Fill each cup with a featured coolatta flavor only to the top of the ice line and place a flat lid on each one. We found that a 1oz metal ladle from a local restaurant supply house for about $2 provided the perfect sample amount and was the easiest to fill our standard espresso shot cups. After each sample we put the lid back on to protect the coolattas from the elements and place the ladle into a red sanitizer cup. By placing the cups behind the samples along with the ladles it discourages self-service.
Our crew members ask every guest approaching the register if they would like to try our new flavors with a description of each. When we first started using this method our sales jumped double digits, especially on the specific flavors we were sampling.
Why not try it out this weekend and set up a little contest with your crew to see if they can beat your average weekend coolatta sales by 25%.
