Bill Castiglione runs Crust & Craft, a family pizzeria in New York that he started with his wife a few years ago. The idea was simple: affordable pizza made with care, served to neighbors like family. The concept took off, but so did the challenges. Labor grew unstable and costs climbed, the dinner rush turned chaotic, and third-party delivery fees squeezed margins. By year’s end, staffing hit nearly $8K/week, drivers were capped at 5 miles, and late runs kept turning into cancellations.

Then Bill turned on Tarro, the all-in-one phone answering + delivery solution used by 3,000+ restaurants across millions of monthly calls and deliveries.

• +5 weekly delivery orders with extended delivery radius
• +3% higher ticket with automatic upsells
• +6 orders via free SMS marketing

Net: +$3,375/week in sales with 4 fewer employees

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How do phone ordering and delivery increase holiday sales?

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1. Tarro Phone Ordering Service – No Missed Calls During the Holiday Season

During the 2023 holiday rush, things got hectic at Crust&Craft. Bill knew they had missed some calls, and a few customers even mentioned that sometimes no one picked up – but he didn’t realize how much it was hurting the business. We started part-time and turned on call forwarding to measure what happened when Tarro wasn’t answering.

The data was clear: staff missed between 1.5% and 5% of calls (lower on slow days and higher on busy days). That meant about 3 lost orders a week, or roughly $100 in revenue, plus unhappy customers who couldn’t get through.

Going full time closed the gap. With Tarro answering, Crust&Craft has unlimited lines and can take several orders at once; their record is six simultaneous orders, and accuracy holds at 99.5%. We also handle questions and complaints at no extra charge, which lets the team stay focused on cooking and service.

The holidays add even more lift. Tarro’s agents automatically suggest high-margin add-ons like drinks and appetizers, which raise the average ticket by about 5%. Those small upsells add up fast (avg. ticket size rose from $30 to $30.90), especially when beverage margins often reach 60% or more.

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2. Tarro Delivery Service – Deliver Farther, Earn More

Delivery is a big growth driver for Crust & Craft. Before Tarro, the delivery zone stopped at 5 miles, so distant orders were declined or delayed. After switching to Tarro, that changed. Crust&Craft keeps one in-house driver for nearby orders (up to about 5 miles), and Tarro handles longer runs, sick days, and surprise rushes at no extra cost. With a 10-mile radius, the shop reached thousands more potential customers and added about five delivery orders per day. Tarro’s driver coverage cut late deliveries by about half, improved customer satisfaction, and saved guests around $10 compared with third-party apps – while the restaurant avoided those high app commissions.

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3. Tarro Marketing – Plan Ahead and Let Orders Roll In

Tarro’s SMS marketing team sets up text campaigns before the season hits. When the messages go out, the orders follow – especially around Christmas and New Year's Eve. Tarro set up the SMS campaigns end-to-end – list, timing, copy, compliance, sending, and tracking – so Bill didn’t lift a finger. With about 55 phone orders a day (and roughly 4,000 customers on file), a 0.6% monthly conversion translated to ~24 extra orders a month, or about 6 per week. For a family restaurant, that kind of simple automation means the team can focus on cooking and service while Tarro keeps regulars coming back week after week.

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“This year our orders went up a lot, and it made me realize something important: the more we depend on delivery apps, the less control we have. Customers on those apps jump around for deals, and we become just another restaurant in the list. When they call us directly or order through Tarro, they’re choosing us. Tarro helped us take our business back. Every call and every delivery builds our own shop, not a platform’s.”

30%

sales

+$175,973

Total Additional

$201,469

Labor saving/Yearly

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