Business Models and Market Leaders

Business Models

The pizza franchise industry is quite a diverse and well developed industry. Within the pizza industry there are many business models available to potential franchisees. The following is a breakdown of the 25 franchises represented in this report and the different business models they offer.

1.  Dine In

            A dine in establishment refers to all establishment where seating is available for the customers.

• Full service 

A full service pizzeria is a sit down restaurant where the food is served to the table. Many full service pizzerias will offer take-out and delivery services.

• Limited service /Fast food

A limited service or fast food pizzeria may not offer table service. Instead the customer will order, pay and collect their food at the counter. There may be casual diner-style seating available.

• Non-Traditional Location:

These pizzerias offer products and services at non-traditional locations including office buildings, shopping malls, stadiums, toll roads, airports, zoos, convenience stores and similar retail facilities. Non-traditional locations will ordinarily only offer take-out and delivery services but may have sit-down facilities depending on the location.

2. Take-out

Take-out pizzerias offer customized pizzas made and baked for walk-in or call-in customers to pick up. For more information please see our report on Take-out and Delivery.

3.  Delivery

A delivery service allows the customer to order custom pizzas, which are baked and delivered by restaurant personnel. The customer can call, text or order online. For more information please see our report on Take-out and Delivery.

4.  Take ‘N’ Bake

Take ‘n’ bake pizzas are customized pizzas made for walk-in customers. The customer then takes the pizza home to bake themselves at their own convenience.

5. Mobile

A mobile pizza vehicle offers a take-out service only.

Table 1: Depicts the 25 franchises represented in this report and the type of business model they are based on:
 

The Market Leaders

Within the pizza industry four companies stand out due to their system size and sales revenue. They have succeeded through innovation and the ability to adapt to consumer trends.

The top four companies are Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Papa John’s and Little Caesars.

1. Pizza Hut   
   Pizza Hut is owned by YUM! Brands and is the world's #1 pizza chain with more than 13,200 outlets in about 90 countries worldwide. Pizza Hut has more than 7,500 units in the US which accounts for 11.2% of all pizzerias in the US. They also capture 14.5% of all US pizza sales⁹. In 1995, Pizza Hut franchises began offering buffalo chicken wings in an effort to offer consumers a variety of tastes and costs. The WingStreet brand was launched in 2003 and has been expanding its presence in Pizza Hut restaurants across the US ever since.  Wing Street is now the largest chicken wing delivery chain with more than 2,200 locations. In addition, Pizza Hut launched its most ambitious product in April; in an effort to boost sales it expanded its delivery menu to include pasta. The first of the leading pizza chains to offer pasta on its delivery menu, the new line is expected to generate $1 billion in annual sales.

    

Delivery Kings Domino's Pizza delivered 400 million pizzas last year. That's a pizza and a slice for every man, woman and child in America. Domino’s Dennis Tran, their World’s Fastest Pizza Maker, can make three large pizzas in only 46.4 seconds. Domino's drivers cover 9 million miles each week in the America alone: that’s 37 trips to the moon every week. And if you were wondering, the three dots in the Domino’s Pizza logo represent the first three Domino’s stores. At the time, the plan was to add a dot for every new store. They quickly ran out of space.

2. Domino’s   
   Domino's Pizza, with over 9000 units around the world, is one of the leading pizza delivery companies in the US and operates in 50 other countries. Domino's Pizza brand is one of the most widely-recognized consumer brands in the world. Strong brand image results in a loyal customer base and also helps the company leverage its brand strength to introduce new products. Domino’s recently revamped their pizza with a new recipe and denounced their old recipe through a frank advertising campaign. The chain decided to start overhauling its recipes more than 18 months ago after mounting criticism from focus groups and on social media sites. The new pizza, which has a new sauce and cheese combination and herb- and garlic-flavored crust, has proved to be a success as Domino’s more than doubled their fourth-quarter profit last year. For the first quarter of 2010 sales surged 18.4% to $381.1 million in the US. In the US, same-store sales rose 14.3% compared to a 1% gain in the first quarter of 2009. Same-store sales refer to the difference in revenue generated by existing stores over a period of time compared to an identical period in the past.  International sales rose 4.2%, down from a 6.6% increase a year earlier.

    

3. Papa John’s   
   Papa John's operates and franchises more than 3,000 delivery and carryout pizza restaurants worldwide. Papa John’s was the first pizza business to offer online ordering and has since been the first business to surpass $2 billion in online ordering pizza sales¹⁰. In an effort to expand, Papa John’s has waived the franchise fee of $25,000 for new franchisees in 2010 and have also a reduced royalty on sales for the first 12 months for on-time restaurant openings, including a 0% royalty rate for restaurants opened by June 2010.

    

4. Little Caesars   
   Little Caesars Pizza is known for its low prices and simple menus. Little Caesars, which operates carry-out restaurants, was the fastest-growing pizza restaurant chain in the country in 2009, growing by about 100 restaurants to 2,600 according to the food service industry consultant Technomic Inc¹¹. The Detroit-based company, which is the fourth-largest pizza chain in the US, grew in sales to $1.13 billion in 2009 from $1.06 billion in 2008.

9“Pizza Power”, PMQ magazine’s (Pizza Marketing Quarterly) Annual Industry Analysis

¹⁰ Papa John's Press Release, May 3rd 2010 http://bit.ly/9lOE65

¹¹Technomic Top 100 Limited-Service Pizza Chains Restaurant Report, http://bit.ly/a3ZGRl

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