Eat ’n Park said it has appointed a dedicated person to handle its growing e-commerce activity.
Adam Golomb, the former marketing director of the 76-unit family-dining chain, has been named director of e-commerce. Kevin O’Connell remains the company’s senior vice president of marketing, and Golomb said his previous duties have been divided among a number of people.
A cornerstone of the company’s e-commerce business is the mail-order sale of its trademarked Smiley cookies, and Golomb's promotion comes two months after Eat'n Park soft-launched a new website for the treats. The cookies previously had been sold through Eat’n Park’s restaurant website.
Since launching www.smileycookie.com, conversion at the site — the number of visitors to the site who buy something — has doubled from about 5 percent to about 10 percent, and the average sale is up by 30 percent, the company said.
“Our sales are up dramatically, but we’re starting from a very small base,” said Golomb, who declined to give details of total sales.
“It’s all about the gifting experience,” said Golomb, noting that the Eat'n Park has updated the packaging and expanded options for customizing the cookies, which are now available in heart, flower and star shapes as well as the traditional round shape. Mini-Smiley cookies — 2.5 inches in diameter instead of the usual 4 inches — also are available, with the additional color options of baby pink and baby blue.
“We’ve had good traction in the wedding market with those,” Golomb said of the mini-cookies, saying they have become popular wedding favors.
He added that there has been a “tremendous response” from businesses that are sending the cookies as gifts, and said they were planning to expand the website to allow businesses to put logos and messages on the cookies.
Eat ’n Park operates restaurants in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. Its home state of Pennsylvania remains the state that buys the most cookies, followed by Virginia, Florida, Texas and Ohio.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].