LOCAL NEWS
“A Hunger For Harrisonburg” by Kathleen Shaw
- For 12 years, there as an annual event has celebrated the culinary craftsmanship of the city and worked to increase the market during off-seasons (Shaw, K., DailyNewsRecord, 2020).
- Previous collaborations include Bella-Luna inspired burger on Cuban Burger’s menu, and a Cuban pizza at Bella Luna (Shaw, K., DailyNewsRecord, 2020).
- Various menu deals for next week: Purchase a full-price pizza, pasta or sandwich meal at Bella Luna, get a free-scoop (Shaw, K., DailyNewsRecord, 2020).
“COVID-19 cases across Virginia hit 6,500, deaths rise to 195” by Caleb Stewart
- As of April 15th, there Virginia Department of Health has received 6,500 positive cases across the Commonwealth of Virginia has been reported for Covid-19 (Stewart, C., WHSV3, 2020).
- As testing capacity increases, so does the amount of positive cases in Virginia (Stewart, C., WHSV3, 2020).
- 101 cases of Covid-19 Harrisonburg (Stewart, C., WHSV3, 2020).
MONITORING SOCIAL MEDIA
INDUSTRY NEWS
- “Pizza Hut revealed that it is expanding its contactless curbside pickup option nationwide, allowing customers “a safe, contactless option” for picking up online orders”
- “it will also be applying “tamper-proof safety seals” to its pizza boxes” to make sure “customers are “the first to touch their food” after it’s taken out of the oven”
- Pizza Hut plans to put seals on all food containers and pizza boxes with a company branded tape
- All food delivered or picked up will have these new ‘tamper-proof safety seals’
Bella Luna could benefit from mimicking Pizza Hut’s new ‘tamper-proof safety seals’ in their restaurant. The safety seal brings another level of sanitation to the food service industry, ensuring customers’ food is protected from outside tampering until delivery. Sanitation and new steps towards social distancing are a current trend with the COVID-19 pandemic. Pizza Hut’s new safety seal will most likely help the already profiting business. Bella Luna could benefit from taking a similar approach and ensuring customers’ food is safely sealed until delivery or picked up. The safety seal lets customers know that their food is being prepared in a mindful and sanitary manner.
Pizzeria’s Give Back Across the Nation
- Several articles covering pizzerias across the nation discuss how local and chain pizza joints are giving back or helping out their community during the COVID-19 pandemic
- In Fort Pierce, Florida Big Apple Pizza and Pasta is doing a “Slice for Seniors” program where “customers can pay $20 to have a pizza delivered to a senior citizen… along with a homemade card created by a school-age child and a T-shirt”
- They covered over “600 seniors in the first week of the program”
- Little Caesars, a chain pizza restaurant, “announced on April 6 that it will donate and deliver 1 million pizzas to healthcare workers and first responders across the country”
- On the Little Caesars app customers will have the “opportunity to “Pie it Forward” by donating a pizza to their nearby hospitals, police and fire departments at checkout”
- Little Pops NY Pizzeria “in Naperville, Illinois, has partnered with its customers to keep local healthcare workers, police officers and other first responders fed”
- “To get pizzas sent to these local heroes, customers make a $10 donation through Little Pops’ online ordering system” your name will then be written on the box and delivered to a local hero
Many restaurants around the nation are giving back to their community and first responders. Bella Luna could look into creating an option for customers to donate and give back to the first responders of the Harrisonburg community. Either by giving meals to first responders from the Bella Luna Pizza restaurant like pasta and pizzas or pastries and bread from Bella Gelato. It could attract some customers to buy food from Bella Luna and donate to first responders. This would give Bella Luna an opportunity to give back to the community.
ADVISORY COMMENT
As the Virginia COVID-10 death toll rises, it is essential that Bella Luna assists the Harrisonburg community during these hard times. While other franchise pizzerias have been able to make large donations, Bella Luna is a local restaurant with less resources. We recommend that they implement a student discount for university students who stayed in the area as well as for medical professionals. This would increase sales as well as help customers. They could add an additional 5% discount for those who pick up their meals with gloves and a mask on to promote social distancing.
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