Crafting the right Limited Time Offer (LTO) for your brand is one of your most important opportunities for profit. With summer and fall LTOs to consider, Red Gold® wants you to be armed with insights to improve your odds at your best LTO ever.

Consider that 50% of customers have ordered an LTO in the last two weeks, and 82% of customers who loved an LTO will return to a restaurant to order it again. Best of all, 75% of happy LTO customers will tell their friends about it, and 65% of customers will return to the restaurant after the LTO to order something else*! Thus, choosing the right ingredients to headline your LTO on your menu is critical.

Remember, 78%* of consumers look for seasonal LTOs. More so than ones that are focused on price are the most prevalent among restaurants. For summer, toppings featuring fruit and vegetables are king. So are LTOs that combo a salad and drink offer opportunities. Even LTOs that feature a salad dressing, such as ranch or thousand island dressing as a pizza topping can be a hit.

Ingredients such as bacon, type of cheese, red sauce, pulled pork, jalapeno are all trending on successful LTOs. According to Technomic data, tomatoes and tomato-based pizza sauce is still king of consumer appeal.

*Datassential 2021

Tomatoes and marinara sauce are #1 in consumer preference when it comes to sauces.

When it comes to pizza toppings, there has been a consistent and growing tendency for consumers to turn to meatless and vegetable-based options. In fact, the fastest growing toppings include cauliflower, avocado and kale.

Vegetables dominate fast-growing pizza toppings.

The plant-based trend that began before the pandemic grew even stronger as consumers focused on the perception that they could help save the planet while eating healthier.

Vegan leads all other descriptions of new pizza menu additions nationwide in growth, up 187% in the past four years. However, it’s important to note that vegan pizzas still represent only on 6.5% of all menus to date.

Datassential numbers show vegan pizzas are the fastest growing on menus today.

Red Gold® and Redpack® fully prepared marinara, pizza and spaghetti sauces are part of any LTO or regular menu solution. These labor-saving items are made with premium ingredients and are ideal for operators looking to save time in their kitchen and serve their dine-in and to-go customers with great food faster. If you haven’t tried one of these fully prepared sauces lately, you can request a free sample. Today might be a good time to take a look at the ingredients for your next LTO success.

As you do your planning, here are some recent menu additions from three pizza chains including one new crustless addition to Marco’s Pizza’s regular menu. May your next LTO be your best.

*Datassential