RESTAURANTS MARKET OUTLOOK

Pizza Company sales surpass expectations

Pitsinee Jitpleecheep

The Pizza Company, a unit of Minor Food Group, reported a 15% sales increase in the first quarter of 2007.

That surpasses the pizza industry's single-digit growth, and came ahead of the company's projected growth of 12%. Marketing director Aniruth Mahathorn said most of the gains came from soaring home deliveries, particularly in March. He added that 67% of deliveries were to new customers.

"About 30,000 calls were made to our 1112 call centre each day in March, breaking the record since we were established six years ago and lifting our sales for the month by 28%," he said.

Since the New Year's Eve bombings, sales through The Pizza Company's delivery service have jumped as security-conscious Bangkok residents prefer to stay at home.

The momentum continued in March, when the company launched a buy-one-get-one-free campaign to offer consumers more value-for-money products.

To keep up with the increasing demand, Mr Aniruth said the company has joined with AIS mobile-phone service provider to allow its customers to order from their phones by dialling *185.

Apart from the delivery business, The Pizza Company's sales were driven by new store openings and an 8% rise in sales at its existing locations.

The company currently has three million delivery customers who spend an average of about 380 baht per bill. To maintain growth in the second quarter, the company plans to open three or four new outlets and add at least six new menus this year.

Yesterday, the company introduced a new Crunchy Top Pizza, which will be be promoted with a budget of 20 million baht.

The Pizza Company claims a 70% share in Thailand's pizza market, which is estimated to be worth about five billion baht. Of the total sales, restaurant sales represent 40%, delivery 45% and take-away 15%.

Bangkok Post

Friday April 06, 2007