There are stickers and decals on Huckaby’s car and all over her refrigerator. More adorn the walls of Watkinsville’s Your Pie restaurant, owned by Huckaby and her husband, Clay.

Inspired by her love for stickers, Huckaby created a contest that is not only benefiting her restaurant, but also its customers and employees.

This summer, Your Pie is distributing car stickers to its customers. If employees spot one of those stickers when they are out and about, they give the driver of the car a coupon good for free Your Pie food. Then, at the end of the summer, the employee who has spotted the most stickers will receive a prize.

“It is good advertising for us, and our employees are enjoying the contest,” Huckaby said. “And, it is great for our customers because everyone loves free stuff.”

The Huckabys tried the sticker promotion last summer, with their children in charge of spotting the car decals. But, this summer the promotion is much bigger, thanks to including the Your Pie employees in the fun.

Everyone who works at the Watkinsville Your Pie has a stack of blue coupons. The employees can give out a coupon anytime a Your Pie decal is spotted on a car, awarding prizes like free drinks, gelatos, or salads.

“The big prize is a free pizza,” Huckaby said.

Each coupon carries the name of the employee who spotted the car sticker. Every night, Huckaby looks over the coupons that have been redeemed that day and records who gave the coupons away. At the end of the summer, the employee who has the greatest tally of redeemed coupons will receive $100.

Just as including the employees has helped the contest to grow, so has the use of social media.

“Last year, our Facebook page didn’t have a big customer base. Now a lot of customers use the page, so it was easier to get the word out about the contest. We have even been posting pictures of our contest winners on Facebook this year.”

Huckaby said Facebook has definitely become an important tool for promoting her restaurant. She said updating the page consistently helps to spread the word about special deals and also helps customers stay connected to the eatery.

“I usually post something on Facebook every single day,” she said.

The sticker contest and using social media are not the only ways Huckaby and her husband are keeping a steady stream of customers at Your Pie this summer. Traditionally, the Fourth of July is not a day a lot of people think about pizza. So, on July 4, the Huckaby’s offered an entire Your Pie pizza for $4.

“We said we were either going to be closed, because the Fourth can be a slow day, or offer a really great special,” she said. “We decided to offer the $4 pizzas and we were slammed all day long.”

Promotions and specials can increase traffic in a restaurant, but Huckaby said even the best contest or lowest price won’t help if restaurants don’t offer an unfailingly good product. She said she credits quality ingredients with helping Your Pie build a solid base of loyal customers.

“All of our ingredients are fresh,” she said, “and our dough is fresh too.”

Huckaby said another thing that makes You Pie popular with customers is that everyone makes their own pizza, deciding on exactly what toppings they want. Those toppings include pizza staples like pepperoni and onions, but also unique offerings like corn, carrots, green apples and cilantro.

Even the sauces and cheese offer seemingly-endless varieties. Whole wheat or white crusts can be topped with traditional marinara, fresh basil pesto, zesty BBQ, roasted garlic olive oil, spicy Thai or several other sauces. Cheese selections include traditional shredded mozzarella and also choices like fresh mozzarella slices, ricotta, feta and cheddar.

“At Your Pie, you can truly create your own pizza,” Huckaby said. “Kids like it because they can pick the toppings they like, and their parents like it because they can try new things on their pizzas.”

Your Pie customers basically fall into two categories, Huckaby has observed. Some people experiment around and when they find a combination they really love, they stick to it, ordering that pizza on every visit. Other customers are a bit more adventurous.

“About 95 percent of our customers eat the same ingredients every time, because some people just like what they like,” she said. “Then you have the other five percent. Those are the customers who try something new every time they come into Your Pie.”

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