June 14, 2013
We're excited to share another week of news & ideas with our MAiZE family. There never seems to be a shortage of ideas and the truth is that some of the best originate with all of you! So, if you ever have an idea you'd like us to pass along to the group, please just send it our way. Also, please remember that we'll be archiving these ideas on the siteowner web site, so that you can go back and view them whenever you like.
Idea of the Week...Picture Menu Signs
 
Many thanks to those of you who took the time to submit a sample of your menu and/or menu signage for our "library of ideas". We are still accepting menu samples & will post a link to the library of images next week.
 
Vala's Pumpkin Patch is among those who submitted a sample of one of their menus (and were randomly drawn as the winner of a free case of rice krispy treats donated by Forbidden Sweets) and their General Food Manager, Kathy Croson, was kind enough to share some insights on the process they went through to develop their new signage last year.
 
New Menu Signs in the Making...
 
We had discussed doing picture menus for a few years. We mentioned to our Sysco rep that we were thinking about doing this and, as luck would have it, he was their in house photographer and worked with us to make it happen.  They also have a graphic artist on staff who did the layouts etc. Both of these services were provided by Sysco at no charge, though we did pay the cost of the printing/mounting.

I did a phenomenal amount of research on picture menus, pricing theory and menu engineering.  I knew we did not want to produce something similar to restaurants where what you order looks nothing like the picture.  I watched videos on YouTube and contacted mentors I had relationships with at Silver Dollar City etc. 

The one criteria we had was that the pictures had to be actual product, actual serving size and actual containers that we serve the food in.  It was very important to me that the menu boards look EXACTLY like what the customer would receive. It took 2 days to do the photo shoot.  Sometimes we would go through 8 to 12 hamburgers to get the exact picture. Everything in the pictures is the same product you would receive if you ordered the product on the farm. 
 
I was onsite for all the pictures and to supervise the preparing of the food to make sure it was in accordance to our standards.  I didn't hesitate to correct the chef or photographer if something didn't look like the product we actually serve.
 
Sysco had a great in-house graphic artist who cropped the pictures and put the menu boards together for us.  I let her know the placement of the items.  (yes, each item has a specific space on the menu depending on the COGs of that product and how we wanted our customers to order).   We had the lady come on the farm so she could get a feel for what each location was like.  I worked very closely with her to have just the right fonts, size of menu board (depending on where it would be mounted) and background graphics so it fit the theme of the food location.
 
The menus are printed up on a plastic that is sticky on the back - very cheap.  They were then mounted on foam board.  One of the guys in the shop here on the farm framed them in scrap barn wood. The end result??  Places with menu boards saw increases in sales anywhere from 30% to 80%.  One location saw 150% increase in sales.  
 
We also went to value meals which made ordering quicker for the customer, most orders were standard so the kitchen staff could get them out quicker and didn't not have to relook to see if they were supposed to get fries or drinks etc.  Also by having value meals customers ordered by meal per person.  In the past they might order 3 hamburgers and share a fry and drink - thus resulting in a higher average ticket price.  We weren't sure how our customers would take to the big change, but they loved it!!!
 
The other thing I did was price everything within a buck or two of each other on the menu.  This way customers were ordering what they wanted versus ordering by price.
 
Locations that did not receive picture menus saw minimal growth - what we would expect in a typical year.  Thus, we know the pictures and value meals accounted for the huge jump in sales we saw.  Of course, this did create new problems - we weren't prepared for that big of an increase in sales and had to increase our deliveries from Sysco to meet the customers demands.  Our locations did not have adequate storage for the amount of product they would need.  Our Sysco rep ended up working some long weekends to meet our needs.  At one time we even had him on a grill!
 
Vendor Message: Stephen Joseph Inc.
Hi Everyone, 
 
I am excited to offer you our line of fun, bright farm, corn maize, and pumpkin design for 2013. For those of you who have not bought from us in the past, our t-shirts sell very well. Above are the designs we are offering for your upcoming Harvest / Corn Maize season. We have included a birthday shirt and due to popular demand I am bringing back the little pumpkin shirt for you! We can design a custom shirt just for your maize as this is very popular amongst the corn maize’s ( minimums are different for customs).  Most of the maize’s not only buy shirts to sell to customers but they purchase our shirts for their staff for the season.
 
Remember, we do not bill you until the shirts ship out the door.  If you place your order by the deadline, but set your ship date a month later, you don’t pay until they ship.
 
Some of the styles have changed since the show so please look over the new styles above!
 
Deadline to order is July 15. Please call me (Sandy James) anytime to place your order. My phone number is 806.725.4807  ext. 215.
 
Toddler:  (sizes:  2T, 3T, 4T)    Little Pumpkin, Corn-a-copia ,Born in a Barn , Farm Friends Birthday   Cost $5.45 per shirt  (48 pcs per design)
 
Youth: 2/4 , 6/8, 10/12, 14/16) Farm Friends Birthday, Corn Vader, Funny Farm, Corn Retro Wave and Corn Maize  Cost $5.95 per shirt  (48 pcs per design)
 
Ladies: S, M, L, XL, XXL. Cost $7.95 ea plus $2.00 for XXL or XXXL  (48 pcs/design)
 
Adults:   S, M, L, XL, XXL. Cost $6.75 ea plus $2.00 for XXL or XXXL (48 pcs/design)
 
*T-shirt minimums:  48 pieces per design, 2 design minimum.  You may split the colors and sizes to make up the 48 minimum per design.  This includes your custom namedrop on all designs! We have to have 288 pcs per design to print, so please help your fellow corn maize friends out by ordering!
 
Check out the gift items at www.stephenjosephinc.com
 
I look forward to working with all of you! Call me anytime to go over any questions you may have on the t-shirts or gifts. Also, a bit of great news...we are offering FREE FREIGHT with all order of $1000.00 or more.  Remember our gift items do fantastic as well for the farms!  We have just added a cute Bee, Horse, Monkey, Butterfly, Airplane, Owl, Girl Monkey, Firetruck, and Ballet.
 
Chat with MAiZE owners on the Facebook Forums
 
This picture is just one of the ideas shared on the Facebook Forum since our last email!
 
If you have a Facebook account, but haven't joined any of our private chat groups that are exclusive to our MAiZE family, you're missing out on a great opportunity to chat with fellow MAiZE owners!
 
* These forums are for MAiZE owners only to protect the privacy of the group and encourage open discussion. If you have an employee you'd like added, we will allow exceptions for full-time, year-round staff.
To access the Discussion Forum, CLICK HERE and request permission to join.
 
To access the Marketplace, CLICK HERE and request permission to join.
 
To access the Haunt Forum, CLICK HERE and request permission to join.
 
MAiZE News Archive
If you'd like to browse through past Ideas of the Week and news, you can access them by visiting the Resource section of the siteowner online toolbox OR by CLICKING HERE. This link takes you to the most recent emails. Older ones, dating back several years are also in the online toolbox.
The MAiZE Inc.; PO Box 367, Spanish Fork, UT 84660; 888-798-0596
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