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Pizza chains bet on innovations to bite a bigger slice
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Saturday, 14 July, 2007, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Bosky Christopher, Mumbai
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s Pizza has earmarked Rs 50 crore for its expansion plan. "We have 145 stores in 33 cities. We plan to open 50 new stores this year in cities that we are already present and some new cities that we plan to enter," said Dev Amritesh, chief of marketing, Domino's Pizza. Pizza Corner has over 52 outlets across the country and plan to touch 75 by the year-end. While, Smokin' Joe's which currently has 55 outlets plans to add 10 more by the year-end.
And for this, pizza chains are betting heavily on one strategy: innovation, both in product and service. Take the case of Domino's the market leader in the pizza delivery segment.
"We launch three new products every year after a thorough research and development process. We have been consistently innovating new products whether it is the Thin Crust pizza, the Cheese Burst, the Double Cheese crunch pizza or the conceptually new, Fun meal promotion. We have just launched a new stuffed side item called Calzone. On the service front, we constantly keep upgrading ourselves to ensure that we deliver hot and tasty pizzas to our customers," said Amritesh.
Pizza Hut's 'Pan' crust pizza has become immensely popular around the world since its launch and is amongst its best selling products, besides Hot-Packs. Conizza, Pizza on the move brought Pizza Corner into the limelight. Apart from this, their innovative range includes Calzones, Focaccia, Sandwizzas, Dessert Pizzas and the like.
While continuing to serve its popular pizzas based on sales statistics and customer feedback, Smokin' Joe's has been introducing completely new pizzas as well as side dishes, such as Pizaxx, Chinky Chomp pizzas and recently, the pizza sandwiches. "Besides, our menu variety is widest and we give the most toppings in the market. Service standards are also being continuously upgraded with in-house and classroom training programmes," said Nirmal Momaya, director, Smokin' Joe's.
There's no doubt that the Rs 300-crore pizza market in the country is always hungry for more and with different offerings. Realising this, apart from the wide range of pizzas in terms of crust, toppings and sizes, Dominos also has Garlic bread, twisty bread, chicken wings, cheesy garlic toasties and the recently launched Calzone as side items. Amritesh said, "We have recently tied up with Baskin Robbins Ice creams to give a complete meal experience. For beverages, Coca-Cola is our official beverage partner. We are looking at introducing new beverages from Coca Cola stable in our stores."
Pizza Hut provides extensive options like pizzas, appetizers, salads, pastas, desserts and beverages. But pizzas continue to be amongst the most popular options on our menu, said Anup Jain, marketing head, Pizza Hut. Kaushik Roy, CEO, Pizza Corner says, "To get the kids involved, we have a kids comic book Super Hero called Zzapi Nercor. All programs at the outlets, related to Zzapi, are focused at kids and creates the pester power. We have Zzapi comic books released every quarter. This also helps in cultivating the reading habit among kids."
Smokin' Joe's offers pizzas, pizza sandwiches, salads, garlic breads, pastas and desserts.Domino's decided to deviate by going desi with localised ingredients that go into the products to suit Indian palate, but continue to have some international favourites on the menu as well. For Jain, localisation is important to cater to the Indian consumer as pizza is an alien item. According to Roy, "The need of the hour is to understand consumer needs and localise to the Indian palate. Apart from the desi range of pizzas, we have introduced Makhni Sauce and the Pizza Corner Signature Sauce. We have also introduced the Jugalbandi pizza, a delightful combination of Paneer Tikka and Chettinad Sauce."
"We were the first ones to start toppings such as paneer and chicken tikka and that was our innovation," said Momaya. The organised pizza market is growing by 35%. "Dominos has been growing at a rate of 40% over last 3 years. However, this year we have grown at approx 50%. The reason for this explosive growth is increasing urbanisation and growing disposable incomes," said Amritesh.
The Domino's outlet is known for its 30-minute home delivery model. Pizza Hut is the only dining restaurant chain for pizzas in India. Pizza Corner follows its baseline 'Better Pizza through Quality and Innovation,' while Smokin' Joe's works on 'promised time' model.
"The price range of Domino's starts at Rs 60 and to offer a lower entry point for our new customers we have introduced a lot of promotional schemes such as Rs 110 for 2 promo, combo offers comprising of different type of pizzas, garlic bread, dip & Coca Cola. The recent Fun meal for 4 promotion, where we were offering 4 different pizzas for 180 is aimed to reduce the entry barrier to pizza consumption by bringing the entry level price point down," said Amritesh.
Pizza Corner has tried to bring down the pricing of the ingredients keeping the affordability in mind. The pricing is similar to that of its competitors. Smokin' Joe's pricing starts at Rs 65.
For any industry that is growing at 35%, entry of new competition is inevitable. US-based Italian restaurant chain Sbarro is the latest to enter India with a 50:50 joint venture with the Hotz group to set up 100 Sbarro restaurants in the country for about Rs 80 crore over 10 years. "But all this has helped to increase the market size. Indian market is large enough to accommodate all these players," said Amritesh. "Competition is always healthy and helps in expanding the market," added Roy.
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