Contrasting strategies

20 Feb 2001

1

Contrasting the Pizza Hut format with the other two chains, Mr.pizzahut_logo.jpg (2164 bytes) Rajesh Shah, managing director of Pizzeria Pure Foods Restaurants - the franchisee for Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai), Chennai and Pondicherry - says, "Unlike Domino's Pizza and Pizza Corner, ours is a full-fledged restaurant with our own kitchen."

Though, the marketing strategy of the three chains differs, the credit should go to Pizza Corner for bringing in some interesting concepts that are now being followed by others.

Pizza Corner is the only chain that started operating with a call-centre concept. In Chennai and Bangalore, it got an easy-to-remember telephone number, common for all its outlets. An outlet that is nearest to the customer’s place executes the booked order.

dominos_logo.jpg (2814 bytes)Domino’s tried to introduce the toll-free concept. However, this was not very attractive as that of Pizza Corner’s, since it had a ten-digit number, difficult to remember and connect.

Again, Pizza Corner was the first chain to use the Internet to take orders and have a play zone for kids in its dine-in restaurants. "Our marketing strategy is to reach every Corner of the Indian market by supplying a WOW product and a WOW service, where WOW, for us, is to exceed the expectations of the guest. We want to reach families through kids and we are continuously trying to implement lots of very interesting strategies to attract kids and their parents in our outlets," says Mr. Bakhache.

In order to attract kids and to run down competition, it also started publishing a comic book with the hero character, Zzapi Nercor (anagram for Pizza Corner). He triumphs over evil aliens called Paz Thuzi and Minodos (anagrams for Pizza Hut and Domino's). Pizza Hut, for its part, has added play zone for children in its restaurants.

With all things remaining more or less equal, the clinching factor for pizzas to become like rotis and dosas or at least like ‘Maggie Noodles' is the price. Currently, pizza prices are as high as the ‘Leaning Tower of Pisa’, restricting frequent purchases.

According to Mr. Bhatia, fast food chains succeeded by offering the price-performance proposition. Domino's Pizza decided to offer ‘Cheezwala hunger’, a regular hand-tossed pizza for Rs. 39. Though Pizza Corner offered one pizza free with every purchased pizza for some time, it is still reluctant to slash its prices.

"Pure food cost is around 35-40 per cent of the selling price.Antoine_Bakhache_1.jpg (4574 bytes) Promotion and overhead are also to be taken into account," argues Mr. Bakhache. But two years down the line, prices are likely to go southwards, he adds. Mr. Shah of Pizzeria Pure Foods also had a similar view on the pricing aspect.

Probably what they don't want to admit is the lesser bargaining power they have with their suppliers due to lesser number of outlets compared to that of Domino's Pizza.

The other marketing strategy adopted by Domino's Pizza and Pizza Hut is Indianisation of the Italian dish by introducing regional varieties like Chicken Chettinad, Channa Batura, Chicken Tikka, spicy Korma, etc.

However, Mr. Bakhache rubbishes such tactics, saying, "Would you eat dosas with a strawberry jam? A dosa should be eaten with sambar and chutney or with the specially-made chilly powder."

Inquiries at one of the Dominos India's Chennai outlet reveals that the demand pattern for regional flavoured pizzas is unpredictable and the outlet is not able to indent its requirements properly.

Adding further, Mr. Bakhache says, "Tinkering with original tastes will affect the whole industry. In the long run, we will survive. Our guests would continue to eat the real pizza while my competitors would be eating dust."

Such brave words apart, what is clear now is that the pizza chains have developed an insatiable appetite for growth. And they are pumping in money. With prices coming down coupled with market growth, it is just a matter of time for pizza chain owners to taste their success recipe.

 

                                                                                                               
                                                                                                        

 

Business History Videos

History of hovercraft Part 3...

Today I shall talk a bit more about the military plans for ...

By Kiron Kasbekar | Presenter: Kiron Kasbekar

History of hovercraft Part 2...

In this episode of our history of hovercraft, we shall exam...

By Kiron Kasbekar | Presenter: Kiron Kasbekar

History of Hovercraft Part 1...

If you’ve been a James Bond movie fan, you may recall seein...

By Kiron Kasbekar | Presenter: Kiron Kasbekar

History of Trams in India | ...

The video I am presenting to you is based on a script writt...

By Aniket Gupta | Presenter: Sheetal Gaikwad

view more
We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience. By continuing to use our website you agree to our policies Read the policyAccept