What’s for dinner?


We’ve got breakfast and lunch covered, and we’ve definitely cornered the market on late-night snacks. But when our customers are making their dinner plans, Sheetz isn’t always top of mind. Yet! Our springtime company-wide rollout of Sheetza Pizza will give our customers a


reason to think Sheetz when they’re in the mood for one of the most popular dinner options in America. “Sheetz employees were on target when they voted pizza as one of the Next Big Things for


our company,” said Chef Dan Coffin. “Americans consume more than 100 acres of pizza per day. We’re serious about food, so it makes sense for us to have an entry in this market.” Our long-term employees will remember that Sheetz has tried pizza before. Twice, in


fact! In the 1990s, our pizza scored high on taste with our customers, but low on execution. It took too long to cook. The pizza program we designed for our convenience restaurant in 2004 was delicious as well, but complicated and expensive to make. Today’s Sheetza Pizza is just right. Our program meets or exceeds four criteria that customer focus groups told us


were critical to overcoming any potential skepticism about purchasing pizza from a “gas station.”


1 Our pizza is cooked in a real oven, which is a must. Consumers balked at the idea of pizza heated up in a microwave or, worse, warmed under


a heat lamp.


2 Our pizza is cooked in less than three minutes. Customers expect their pizza in seven to eight minutes, but prefer to have it within five.


3 Our pizza retails at $4.99! Customers expect pizza from Sheetz to cost from $6 to $7.


4 Focus group participants were extremely pleased with the presentation of our pizza, including the fact that it comes in a traditional pizza box, and


felt it was either what they expected or a lot better than they would expect from a “gas station pizza.” Customers said they would expect Sheetza Pizza to be at least as good as either the best frozen pizza or other $5 pizzas.


We spent the summer and fall testing Sheetza Pizza to make sure we were getting the


taste profile of the product just right. The hand-pulled crust is prepared by a third-party vendor. We add a flavorful tomato sauce made with fresh tomatoes and spices. We top it off with a blend of four cheeses: whole milk mozzarella, cheddar, Parmesan and Romano with just a touch of oregano to taste. Then we add a dry cured pepperoni full of chili pepper, garlic, salt and pepper. The pizza is quick frozen for transportation and storage, then shipped to stores. Assembly at store level consists of adding your customer’s choice of toppings (only one


topping can be added at this time) and popping the pizza into the turbo chef. Sheetza Pizza will only be available between the hours of 2 p.m. and 4 a.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 4 a.m. on weekends. During the test, we ran a promotional campaign that included mailers to homes and


received an overwhelming response from customers. The sales numbers we need for this program to be successful are achievable! This is our first of what we hope to be a collection of dinner offerings for our customers.


Family Matters APRIL 9


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