Change in strategy: After a decade, Pizza Hut eats up ‘all you can eat’ deal

The country’s largest pizza food chain aims to increase its target market.

KARACHI:

After at least a decade, Pizza Hut has decided to eat up its famous all you can eat deal.

The food chain has come up with a new deal namely Ramadan Fiesta all you can eat with a slightly reduced per head cost. However, the catch is that you are limited to one regular pizza.

The US-based restaurant chain is the largest pizza chain operating in Pakistan with a network of 44 outlets across the country and no direct dine-in competitor.

The famous deal had ballooned to Rs799 plus tax totalling to Rs930 right before its death in the final 15 days of Ramazan in 2011. The price gradually rose from Rs599 plus tax in 2010, Rs699 plus tax at the start of Ramazan in 2011 and then jacked up by another Rs100 in the final 15 days of the holy month due to its high demand.

“There was not a single empty table at their Clifton, Zamzama and Gulshan-e-Iqbal branches during Iftaar last year,” said Ammar Ahmed, a regular diner at Pizza Hut in Ramazan for the past many years. You need to be at the branch at least an hour before Iftaar to have any chance of getting a table, said the Karachiite.

The restaurant is now offering one regular pizza, one salad and bottomless soft drinks for Rs595 plus tax per person this Ramazan.

“The new deal is affordable for the average income society,” said Pizza Hut Pakistan General Manager Marketing Marya Khan. The food chain aims to increase its target market by being more affordable to the average income class of the society.

Khan claims no one in the market is able to compete with the deal they are offering.

The localities of Defence and Clifton in Karachi serve as a hub for pizza outlets as some local and international pizza outlets –Domino’s, Papa Johns and start-ups like 14th Street Pizza, Stone Baked and New York Style Pizza of US-style pizza – operate in the same area but focus more on delivery than dine-in. 14th Street, arguably the highest growing chain of the lot, is exclusively available only in Defence and Clifton. Pizza Hut’s Clifton outlet is one of the highest revenue making branch across the country, showing the high demand of the cuisine in the area.

Industry experts told The Express Tribune that the restaurant business will not be able to increase prices this time around and will opt for a price cut this Ramazan because of cut-throat competition thanks to the dozens of restaurants that have opened.

“The trend we have noticed is that one regular pizza is more than enough for an average consumer,” Khan added while explaining the new deal. Additionally, if one can’t consume the entire pizza, they can take the leftover pizza home, she said. The official mentioned this as another issue in the previous deal. “A lot of food used to be wasted in the all you can eat deal,” Khan said. Khan was quick to deny that they reduced the price due to pressure from competition. “There were no financial pressures to reduce the price,” she said.

Asked if changing the deal made any difference to sales, Khan said, “It’s too early to comment about the impact of this deal on our sales. “Based on the feedback from our restaurants, we are getting more transactions,” she said. We will be able to give exact comparison after recording weekend sales,” she added.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 27^th, 2012.