THE days of big slices coming off pizza prices are gone as fast-food chains absorb rising input costs.

But the pizza companies have other ways to hit your wallet and waistline this year.

Australian fast-food chains including Domino’s Pizza and Eagle Boys are promoting quality, menu variety and value-for-money offerings to tempt customers as family budgets tighten.

They’re being held back from savage pizza price discounting wars because they’re negotiating a massive rise in prices of key ingredients including wheat – its price has more than doubled in a year – and cheese and meat for toppings.

Food industry experts say that because Australia’s economy needs to slow to avert inflationary pressures, this probably will mean slowing growth for the fast-food chains.

But they should weather the storm OK because consumers might opt for fast food instead of trips to more expensive restaurants.

The challenge is to keep traffic high using value-based promotions, luring customers with menu variety and pushing more profitable menu items such as desserts.

Brisbane-based Domino’s put strategies in place late last year to protect its profits from a rise in local commodity prices.

It’s lifting its proportion of franchises, expanding online ordering and has split its menu.

It offers standard, cheaper pizzas and has a more expensive range with extra and higher quality toppings.

It also has introduced desserts.

“We knew last year commodity prices were going to be strong,” Domino’s chief executive Don Meij says.

“People thought we’d just lift our prices. Instead we decided to offer better quality.

“You can still buy a standard pizza for the same price or you can pay more for better quality.”

Eagle Boys, also Brisbane-based, is highlighting the size and quality of its pizzas. It said it constantly was investigating new menu items to complement its traditional offerings.

The new products had all launched with great success, providing a wider variety of options for customers.

Focus groups had confirmed that, although product innovation in pizzas was important, “quality holds far greater importance and is definitely more top of mind for consumers”.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Popularity: 11% [?]

Sam Costello knew the pizza he made at Gracie See’s Pizzeria in Inkster was the best around, and now, he can prove it.

Costello, who along with his father, Tom, traveled to Las Vegas to compete in the International Pizza Expo last week, took away top honors for the North American continent, finishing second only to the country of Italy for the international portion of the showdown.
Gracie’s owners hope that the new designation will bring pizza lovers into the Michigan Avenue location.

“We’re proud of the award, there’s no doubt about it,” said Sam Costello from his restaurant last week.

“We’ve been doing this for many, many years – we use all fresh ingredients, and that sets us apart from other pizzas you would get at other places,” he added.

The pizzeria opened in Inkster about three years ago, but has been a fixture in Detroit since it first opened in 1968. Like the Detroit location, the Inkster eatery boasts a healthy dose of Italian authenticity, from the posters of Italian-American actors and celebrities like Al Pacino and Frank Sinatra, to the kitschy T-shirts that read, “I Whacked the Godfather” that are on display, or for sale.

The atmosphere and the history are part of what led the pizzeria to victory last week in Las Vegas, Sam Costello said.

“We put a lot of work into what we do,” he said.

This year, 70 pizzerias took part in the competition. The businesses were broken down by group – Gracie’s took the first-place sport for the Mid-Americas classification. On the second day of the competition, the winners of each sub-group went head-to-head by making a meat lover’s special. An Italian pie came out on top, but Sam Costello said that not surprising.

Costello took home a $2,500 prize, but the win isn’t necessarily about the money, he said.

“Every business that has done well in this competition has seen a boom in their business,” he said. “This is more about the exposure than it is about the prize.”

There will be quite a bit of exposure. In several months, the competition will be highlighted on the Food Network, which means the business will receive a plug in thousands of local households that subscribe to basic cable.

Costello hopes the exposure will bring new customers to both locations, though he said business is moving along nicely in both Detroit and Inkster.

“In Inkster, we do mostly carry-out business instead of sit-down business, and it’s pretty much the opposite in Detroit,” he said.

John Ambiuzzino, a longtime customer, said he often stops at Gracie’s for the pizza.

“It’s the best around,” he said. “I can see why they won the award.”

Though the award is a shot in the arm for the business, Costello said his immediate plans for the Inkster business is to keep doing what they’ve been at for more than 40 years – making pizza that is cooked with the not-so-secret ingredient of Italian pride.

“The best thing about our pizza is that we enjoy making it,” Costello said.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Atlanta, GA (PRWeb via PRWeb) April 15, 2008 — Three weeks ago the Best Pizza Box was revealed to an
Internet audience through a unique, innovative and successful website and product launch. As many have found
out since that time, the most convenient take out and home delivered food, pizza, can now be that much more
convenient. “Convenience is what ordering a pizza is all about. When you order a pizza, it’s convenient. But,
when you have to deal with the packaging … it becomes difficult. Now all you have to do with the Best Pizza Box
is pull the cord and decide whether you want to throw away the whole box or use half of it for storage in your
refrigerator. We’ve taken what was the only inconvenient aspect of having pizza for a meal … and made it far
more convenient for the consumer,” said Bill Volz, President of Windshield Marketing and co-inventor of the
Best Pizza Box.

The Best Pizza Box is a patent-pending unique pizza box that splits in half to form two small boxes. With a
simple pull of a rip cord, a large pizza box is converted to one half its original size. Now consumers have a place
to temporarily store their left over pizza in the refrigerator or easily dispose of both pieces in their kitchen trash
can.

“Through a series of comedic commercials and instructional video shorts actually showing the box in action, as
well as web articles and web 2.0 interactions … consumers have come to know this particular box as the answer to
the pizza box disposal dilemma,” said Jim Harris, President, Picture This Communications. “We’ve been
extremely pleased with the results of the program — we’re all excited that ‘Best Pizza Box’ can be found on the
first page of major search engines in just a few short weeks, most featuring our commercial and video shorts,”
said Harris.

This week, the Best Pizza Box team launches its latest video “Curse of the Pizza Box”, which can be found on
bestpizzabox.com, as well as on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaEyqT7qoS8.
The Best Pizza Box and its marketing program also caught the eye of Podcaster News. Last week, Ken Rayment
of Better Process Podcasts spoke with Jim Harris about the Best Pizza Box marketing campaign. Listen to the
podcast at www.podcasternews.com/bpp/5023.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. “The success of our introduction has been tremendous. We knew we had a
great product, but we were amazed as to the amount of interaction and feedback we received from the Internet
population,” said best pizza box co-inventor, Bill Volz. “We knew when we launched the box that whoever
secures its rights, would significantly impact their market dynamics. Since launch, we’ve been approached by
national pizza chains, box manufacturers, distributors, ad agencies and venture capitalists … and that’s aside from
all of the feedback and inquiries we’ve been receiving from those who are participating in the $100,000
Challenge. Given the volume of interested parties — we’re announcing the deadline in which organizations should
contact us,” said Volz.

The Best Pizza Box co-inventor Bill Volz announced that they will continue to take inquiries from interested
parties through May 31 of this year, after which they will close down the program to advance discussions with
candidates.

Based on research, this innovative pizza box would offer tremendous value and brand loyalty to Independent
Pizza Restaurants, and companies such as Domino’s, Little Caesar’s, Papa John’s and Pizza Hut — especially when
tied to other promotions. “It is our intention to ink a deal with an interested party by late summer — in time for the
fall promotional season,” said Volz.

About Picture This Communications

Picture This Communications, founded in 1997, is a provider of strategic interactive services. Picture This
Communications’ core services include interactive marketing strategy, interactive games, trade show kiosk
applications, and custom internet applications — including membersandevents.com — for online membership and
event management. For more information about Picture This visit picturethis.org.

About Windshield Marketing

Windshield Marketing, founded in 2006 is an upstart marketing firm in the business of identifying significant
consumer needs and creating patented solutions to facilitate significant share growth. For more information visit
www.bestpizzabox.com
 

Popularity: 10% [?]

HAGERSTOWN, MD - Rocky’s Pizza has been voted number one in Hagerstown for their famous pies, but now they are known for another reason; professional wrestling.

When you see the father-son tag team, they are usually tossing pizzas. However, they tossed their opponents around a wrestling ring.

“I was really nervous about it. I was facing a guy who is 6′5″ and an ex-WWE guy, so I wasn’t taking him very lightly, that is for sure. I was very nervous, but I was very prepared,” said Vinnie Schiano, Di Cola, Owner of Rocky’s Pizza.

Vinnie and his son, Cocky Rocky, took on the hated team of Corporal Punishment and Gusten Uberstud. Now, Cocky Rocky is no new name in the ring. But, his father has only been training for the past two months.

“I was really thinking about protecting my father at all costs,” said Cocky Rocky Dicola, NWL Wrestler.

It was his fatherly instincts that got Vinnie in the ring and the support of the crowd that kept him going.
 
“It was so exciting to hear my family yelling because it gave me more power and more strength to go on with it. I was scared at first when I got in there, but then I just heard the fans going off and I said to myself, ‘I know I can do this,’” said Schiano Di Cola.

“When we won the match, the last thing I said to my dad was, ‘I love you man, thank you.’ It really meant a lot to me to share that with my father. A lot of people I know would love to do it, but I’m glad to say I got to do it,” said Di Cola.

Having the father-son duo step into the ring is part of what the wrestling organization is all about. Not only do they entertain their audience, but it’s good family fun at the same time.

“We keep it as clean; good versus evil without all the dirty things and the bad words and the gestures that you will see at a lot of these other places,” said John Rambo, NWL Instructor.

The winners couldn’t let their opponents go home empty-handed. Fans got to smear some of the famous Rocky’s Pizza in the losers’ faces. After the win, Vinnie said he plans on continuing his training as a professional wrestler.

Popularity: 27% [?]

Papa John’s dominates Internet sales of the $36B-a-year industry while Domino’s, others test it out.

For Mike Santonocito, ordering pizza at Michigan State University was as simple as: Point. Click. Pizza. “Online ordering is more convenient,” said Santonocito, now a law student at DePaul University in Chicago. “It’s just popping into the computer, clicking the mouse a few times and the pizza shows up.”

More and more pizza customers in Metro Detroit and across the country are turning to the Internet for home delivery.

Papa John’s is leading the way in online ordering in the $36-billion-a-year pizza industry, with others such as Ann Arbor-based Domino’s Pizza testing the waters. Experts predict that all major chains will offer the option within five years.

About 2.8 percent, or 84 million, of the 3 billion annual pizza orders are placed online, said Jeremy White, editor of Pizza Today, a trade publication. Five years ago, it was only 0.008 percent or 24 million Internet orders.

Online ordering offers advantages: It’s quicker, less prone to errors, provides an up-to-date menu and prices and cashless transactions. It’s just a matter of a few clicks of the mouse and entering your address and credit card number (you can even include the driver’s tip).

“The pizza industry has proven the Internet works well for some,” said Steve Coomes, a former senior editor for PizzaMarketplace.com. “They can’t ignore it or they risk losing customers to other pizza outlets that have it. It’s a highly competitive market that nobody wants to give up even a small percentage of their sales.”

He predicts online ordering will never replace the phone; it’s just another way to connect with the local pizza shop.

Papa John’s is the only chain with online ordering nationwide, including at its 43 Michigan stores.

“The Internet is where most customers live today,” said Chris Sternberg, Papa John’s senior vice president of corporate communications. “Consequently, we want to make it easy for those customers to order out food. There are advantages to the Internet.”

The Louisville, Ky.-based company, which has 2,600 stores nationwide, began offering the service in 2001. Since then, the company has taken more than 25 million online pizza orders. Online ordering has increased by at least 50 percent each of the last few years.

“Many customers don’t like to be put on hold,” Sternberg said. “They want to see the menu and pricing. And they like to move ahead with their order at their own pace. This can be done on the Internet.”

Domino’s Pizza, with 5,000 stores in the United States, sees online ordering as a staple of its future. Some of its stores have been testing online ordering with success, and officials predict it will eventually be used companywide. Online testing is being done in Michigan and in San Diego, New York City and Gainesville, Fla.

“From our experience, offering online ordering will be required of us,” said Tim McIntyre, vice president of corporate communications for Domino’s. “Our consumer base is headed in that direction. People are always looking for convenience and control.

“Online ordering takes a lot of guesswork out of it,” he added. “You are eliminating the mistakes. You are the one doing the clicking as opposed to relying on someone at the other end of the phone hearing you correctly.”

Neither Little Caesar’s pizza, headquartered in downtown Detroit, nor Hungry Howie’s, a Madison Heights pizza chain, has any immediate plans to provide online ordering, officials at those companies said.

Pizza Hut, the nation’s largest pizza chain, began testing online ordering more than a decade ago and is working to get all of its stores wired with the Internet. Last month the company began offering a Spanish language Web site for online ordering.

“It’s more than a test now,” said Chris Fuller, a Pizza Hut spokesman.

Orders routed automatically
Hoyt Jones, 48, has been testing online ordering at his eight Domino’s franchises — seven around Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti and one near Michigan State University — the past eight months.

Online orders are automatically routed to the pizza preparation area and are integrated into the flow of phone and walk-in orders. During slow periods, bells sound to alert workers that an online order has arrived.

Already, online ordering represents 7 percent to 8 percent of Jones’ business and has proven especially popular with college students. And businesses like online ordering for advance orders, said Jones, who worked in Domino’s franchising department from 1985 until 2002, when he began opening his own stores.

Popularity: 14% [?]

U.S. chain Papa John’s International Inc. plans to grab a bigger slice of the extremely competitive Canadian pizza market, announcing yesterday it will open 57 new locations across the country beginning this year.

The company, which bills itself as the world’s third-largest pizza company, currently operates 14 locations in Western Canada and says Canada is a target for international growth. The restaurants will be built under development agreements with franchise groups in different parts of the country.

“Canada is a key focus area for our international expansion,” chief financial officer David Flanery said in a release. “And these multiunit franchise operators will help us further establish a strong foothold in that country.”

Papa John’s is beefing up in Canada as domestic pizza companies are already aggressively expanding into each others’ territories.

Last year, Pizza Pizza Ltd. announced it is expanding from its base in Central Canada to Alberta, while Panago Pizza Inc. has been moving east from its base in British Columbia, opening its first restaurant in Toronto last spring and announcing plans to open 150 locations in southern Ontario.

Boston Pizza, based in Richmond, B.C., has also been expanding eastward from its Western base.

Food service consultant Douglas Fisher said the “quick service” market for takeout and delivery pizza - which is Papa John’s typical model - is an especially saturated sector in Canada.

“I think it’s a really price-sensitive market and it’s really tough to penetrate it,” he said.

“And we’ve got Pizza Pizza, which is certainly a strong driver in the market in Ontario for sure.”

Pizza Pizza operates 616 locations across Canada, most of them in Ontario.

Mr. Fisher said ingredient prices are typically higher in Canada than the United States, and the pizza sector in particular is currently being hit with by a double whammy of rising flour prices and rising cheese prices.

Based in Louisville, Ky., Papa John’s operates 3,200 locations worldwide, including 450 restaurants outside the United States.

The company’s development agreements call for 20 restaurants to be built in Atlantic Canada by franchisee PJ Atlantic Franchising Ltd., and 10 to be built in Saskatchewan by MJ Taylor Holding Co.

As well, Bajco LLC will build 15 restaurants in western Ontario, while PDR Associates Inc. will build 12 units in eastern Ontario.

Each franchise group has committed to having at least one restaurant opened in 2008, the company said in a release yesterday.

Mr. Fisher said it is important to see how quickly the chain builds its new Canadian locations. He said he has seen many companies announce aggressive expansions into Canada only to build a fraction of the locations originally promised.

That’s because many U.S. chains typically have higher operating profits than Canadian locations, and are disappointed they cannot match those margins when they expand northward.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Pizza Hut anticipates preparing almost two million pizzas during the hours leading up to the Super Bowl.Nearly 50% of the Pizza Hut deliveries and carry-outs occur in the two hours prior to kick off and during the first hour of the Super Bowl.

Pepperoni is the most requested topping followed by Italian sausage and extra cheese. Breadsticks are the most popular side order followed by wings and cinnamon sticks. Pan Pizza is the most popular followed by  Hand-Tossed Style Pizza.

Domino’s delivered 400 million pizzas last year… that’s a pizza (and a slice) for every man, woman and child in the United States.

Pizza is a $30 billion per year industry.1

The World’s Fastest Pizza Maker makes 14 pizzas in 2 minutes and 35 seconds.

Domino’s opened its 7,000 store worldwide on April 10, 2001 in Brooklyn, New York

Domino’s drivers cover 9 million miles each week in the U.S. alone. (That’s 37.5 round trips to the moon every week!)

In 2004, Super Bowl Sunday was the busiest day of the year. Domino’s sold close to 1.2 million pizzas, which is about 42 percent more pizzas compared to a normal Sunday. Super Bowl Sunday ranks among the top five days for pizza deliveries annually, up there with Thanksgiving Eve, New Year’s Day, New Year’s Eve and Halloween.

Ever wonder about what the three dots stand for in the Domino’s Pizza logo? They represent the first three Domino’s Pizza stores. The plan was to add a dot for every new store, however, with Domino’s current store count over 7,000, that would have been quite impossible to continue.

Super Bowl Takeout and Delivery Fact Sheet:

* According to National Restaurant Association research, roughly one out of seven (15 percent) Americans order takeout or delivery food from a restaurant for a Super Bowl gathering at their house or someone else’s house. For younger adults (ages 18-34) who watch the Super Bowl * this year held on Sunday, February 5 * that figure rises to 22 percent.

* Of those who ordered takeout or delivery, 58 percent ordered pizza, 50 percent ordered chicken wings, and 20 percent ordered subs or sandwiches.

* Those living in larger households (three or more members) were more likely than others to order takeout or delivery on Super Bowl Sunday, as were those living in a metropolitan area, and those living in the Northeast.

* In addition, approximately one in 20 Americans (4 percent) watch the big game at a restaurant or a bar.

October is National Pizza Month, (US). It was first so designated in 1987 and continues to be the traditional time for celebration of one of America’s most important and popular food industries.

Americans eat approximately 100 acres of pizza EACH DAY, or about 350 slices per second.

Pizza is a $41+ BILLION per year industry. There are approximately 69,000 pizzerias in the United States. Approximately 3.5 BILLION pizzas are sold in the U.S. each year. (Source: Blumenfeld and Associates)

Pizzerias represent 17% of all restaurants. (Source: Food Industry News.)

Pizza accounts for more that 10% of all foodservice sales. (Source: Food Industry News.)

93% of Americans eat AT LEAST one pizza per month. (Source: Bolla Wines.)

66.66% of Americans order pizza for a casual evening with friends. (Source: Bolla Wines.)

Each man, woman and child in America eats and average of 46 slices, (23 pounds), of pizza per year. (Source: Packaged Facts, New York.)

Italian food ranks as the most popular ethnic food in America. (Source: National Restaurant Association.)

According to a recent Gallop Poll, children between the ages of 3 and 11 prefer PIZZA over all other food groups for lunch and dinner.

A study done by a U.S. Department of Agriculture statistician and home economist found that in a three-day survey period, 42% of children between the ages of 6 and 11 has eaten pizza. (Source: Smithsonian Magazine.)

94% of the population of the U.S. eats pizza. (Source: Parade Magazine.)

Favorite Pizza Toppings in the United States

Pepperoni is by far America’s favorite topping, (36% of all pizza orders). Approximately 251,770,000 pounds of pepperoni are consumed on pizzas annually. Other popular pizza toppings are mushrooms, extra cheese, sausage, green pepper and onions.

Gourmet toppings are gaining ground in some areas of the country such as chicken, oysters, crayfish, dandelions, sprouts, eggplant, Cajun shrimp, artichoke hearts and tuna. More recent trends include game meats such as venison, duck and Canadian bacon.

Mozzarella cheese represents 30% of total cheese output. Production of Italian cheeses such as mozzarella, provolone, ricotta, parmesan and Romano by U.S. cheese makers more than doubled between 1980 and 1992, from 688.6 MILLION pounds per year to nearly 2 BILLION pounds per year. (Source: Cheese Market News.)

Manufacturers’ sales of pizza cheese should top $44 BILLION by 2006. U.S. per capita consumption of mozzarella cheese was 7.93 pounds in 1994 and is predicted to reach 12.51 pounds by 2005. (Source: Business Trend Analysts, BTA)

62% of Americans prefer meat toppings on their pizza, while 38% prefer vegetarian toppings. (Source: Bolla Wines.)

Women are twice as likely as men to order vegetarian toppings on their pizza. (Source: Bolla Wines.)

Barbeque pizza emerged as one of the more popular pizza variations in a 1994 study by the National Restaurant Association. Nearly 33% of menus offered some form of this dish. Other popular variations were Mexican pizza, white pizza, five-cheese combos, non-cheese pies and traditional Italian pizzas such as Margherita, Florentine and new potato pizzas. (Source: National Restaurant Assocation).

Popularity: 14% [?]

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Stellar Restaurant Solutions, provider of call-center and online-ordering services, has signed a contract with Borriello Brothers, a three-unit Colorado pizzeria chain. Under the deal, Stellar Restaurant Solutions will centrally manage phone orders and credit-card payments for the three-unit pizza chain. The implementation of the pizza phone-ordering service also will allow Borriello Brothers to merge their separate store phone numbers into one contact number that can be used in all their advertising and promotions.

The service will be operated from Stellar Restaurant Solutions’ dedicated restaurant ordering call center located in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Popularity: 14% [?]