Compared to previous years, Technomic reported sales gains for the Top 45 in 2007, with total per-unit sales averaging $647,312.
For the purposes of analyzing the various data and drawing conclusions about the pizza industry, we’ve chosen to divide our industry into two categories: The Top 45 chains (the 45 pizza chains that appear on the Technomic Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report) and those referred to as “independents,” which make up the remainder of the industry.
As expected, the independent sector was largely responsible for the addition of new units within the industry, and now 65% of pizza outlets are independently owned and control 53.03% of total pizza industry sales. Average per-unit sales took a dip for independents between 2006 and 2007, going from $418,048 to $393,378, but this discrepancy could be due to the fact that our reporting methods have changed (we used to count all pizzerias not in the Top 25 as independents; now we count all that aren’t in the Top 45).
Not surprisingly, The Big Four is still comprised of Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Papa John’s and Little Caesars. Once again, according to Technomic statistics, Pizza Hut holds the top spot with 7,466 units, slightly down from last year’s reported 7,532 units, but still accounting for 9.77% of all pizzerias in the United States. With these locations, Pizza Hut captures 13.85% of all U.S. pizza sales.
This past year brought big announcements from The Big Four: Pizza Hut introduced the masses to its new pasta offerings, and even went so far as to announce a new business name, Pasta Hut, as an April Fool’s Day joke. Papa John’s reached the $1 billion mark in online ordering, a huge accomplishment for the company and a big testament to the popularity of the online ordering trend. Domino’s rolled out its Pizza Tracker, allowing customers to go online and track their pizzas from oven to door, a feature that many anxious customers had been clamoring for. And, since launching the new program on Veteran’s Day in 2006, Little Caesars has helped more than 30 veterans open franchises under the
Little Caesars Veteran Program, and has plans to help many more.
International Opportunities. The weaker U.S. dollar has made the international market more attractive. Pizza Hut, Domino’s and Papa John’s have all made great strides in taking their brands around the globe. According the PMQ 200 List, which reports the number of international units, Pizza Hut is well on its way to having a majority of its stores on foreign soil—and Domino’s and Papa John’s are following in those footsteps.
In an attempt to get into the mind of the average pizza consumer, Technomic conducted an online survey of more than 1,500 nationally representative American consumers in January 2008 and asked them various questions about their pizza consumption habits, with some surprising results.
The results showed that three out of four consumers (77%) eat pizza more than once per month, and 35% consume it more than once per week, with a majority (72%) ordering it for carryout.
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