Did you know you’re likely ignoring your best customers every week with your marketing?
Specifically, the ONLY marketing you control is your outbound emails and text messages.
The backbone of your marketing plan is your email and text database, yet 90% of your customers aren’t in it.
WHY? Because you’ve never gathered their data from them.
The best time to start would have been a while ago, but the 2nd best time is today.
And the best place to start is the easiest: inside your 4 walls.
Think about the effort it takes for someone to choose your spot for lunch:
They chose you over the competition.
They drove to your location.
They walked through your doors.
They ordered food.
They handed you their credit card.
That’s trust. That’s the intent. That’s an opportunity.
And 90% of restaurants completely waste it.
The Problem: “How are you doing?”
Most in-store conversations sound like this:
“How are you doing?”
You don’t care how they’re doing.
And they know you don’t care how they’re doing.
Instead, here’s what should be happening:
“Have you been here before?”
“Are you in our VIP program?”
“Want a free pizza on your next visit?”
That’s how you build a database. Because here’s the truth:
The easiest way to grow sales in 2026 is not finding new customers.
It’s getting your current customers to come back more often and spend more.
And you can’t do that without their data.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
One pizza client of ours was adding about 60–80 people a month to their loyalty program.
Not bad… but not great.
Then they made one change: Every employee asked every customer, every time.
Database growth grew by 30%.
And what happened next?
Their loyalty sales jumped from about $23,000 a month to over $31,000 a month inside that loyalty program.
Not because of better pizza. But, because of better systems. They simply increased the # of members by ASKING!
The Simple Fix
Script the conversation.
Make it mandatory.
Tie it to tech that captures data.
Incentivize your team to execute it.
They don’t forget to wear gloves. They don’t forget to wash their hands. And they shouldn’t forget to ask for the data.
Because every customer that leaves without joining your database is future revenue walking out the door.
Final Thought
You can’t outspend Chipotle. You can’t out-footprint the chains.
But you can out-execute them inside your four walls.
The next time someone orders a large pepperoni, ask yourself:
Did I just complete a transaction? Or did I build a relationship?
That answer will determine whether your sales are flat next year… or up 10-20%.
Let’s get to work.
– MP
