Mesa restaurant gift certificate

DM Delivers Diners - Pasta Pomodoro turns to direct marketing - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Byline: Richard H. Levey

A $30,000 DIRECT MAIL PROGRAM aimed at Pasta Pomodoro's neighbors has increased sales at the restaurants by 20% to 40%.

The tests, touting the eateries' new "To Go" menu, ended this month. But the San Francisco-based chain will likely commit upward of $150,000 to roll out the campaign to all of its 20 locations.

As many as 25% of the respondents to the campaign - which utilized postcards and takeout menu mailers - are new faces.

The initial postcard mailing dropped March 11 to 30,000 recipients, offering a $5 discount off a meal, which usually costs between $12 and $15 per person. The postcards were split evenly among four locations: Castro, CA; Marina, CA; Mesa, AZ; and Paradise Valley, AZ.

On March 28, 12,500 takeout menu mailers reached two San Francisco neighborhoods. Residents in Mill Valley, CA received 7,500, while North Beach, an Italian section of San Francisco, was sent 5,000. Like the postcards, these contained a $5 gift coupon.

The lists for both mailings were carrier route files of consumers within a two- or three-mile radius of each restaurant.

The decision to use mail instead of radio or print advertising was not made lightly. "There's not a lot of media that is neighborhood-specific," said Chris Carter, account executive at San Francisco agency Cornyn + Partners, which designed the program. "It fits the strategy."

Direct mail made up 32% of the overall marketing budget, with the rest earmarked for a redesign of the menu and a host of premiums and table cards.

The restaurants gathered names and addresses from redeemed paper coupons with the postcard mailing. Plastic coupon cards with a magnetic strip accompanying the takeout campaign were scanned to record check totals. This data will be used for future marketing programs.

The mail campaign marks the first trackable direct marketing effort Pasta Pomodoro has backed. Previously the company had captured names through credit card use and comment cards, and sporadically sent out announcements about menu changes.

The next stage likely will focus on the takeout menu mailers (which cost $1.14 to distribute), with postcards reserved as a lower-cost option at 54 cents apiece.

"We are going to be following up with all the people who redeem the certificate," Cornyn + Partners president Chris Cornyn said. "Now that we have them on the hook, it's time to bring them back."