Stelios launches first easyPizza.com franchise in Fareham, Portsmouth
posted: Feb 9, 2006

‘Simply delicious and delivered’ is the message from Stelios, serial entrepreneur and easyGroup chairman, at the launch of the first easyPizza.com franchise, opened at Segensworth East, half way between Portsmouth and Southampton.

The first franchisee to take on the challenge is local owner operator James Kendall, 27, whose business Manhattan Pizzas at Unit 13, Kingdom Close, Segensworth East, Portsmouth, PO15 5TJ has been trading successfully for four years. An entrepreneur himself, James was looking at ways of expanding his trade and the new easyPizza.com franchise proved to be right business solution.

After trialling the easyPizza.com concept for 12 months in Milton Keynes and ensuring that strict quality, cost and delivery criteria were successfully met, Stelios has appointed this first franchisee - and two more units are already in the pipeline. Re-engineering the pizza delivery business to produce a no frill, low cost delivery business and tantalising the business tastebuds of the UK’s 9,000 independent operators, Stelios is preparing for a UK franchise rollout.

Stelios says: ‘Anyone can produce cheap pizza, but we have not compromised on quality and service standards. The easyPizza.com franchise is attractive because it is well priced, it is easy to operate, it offers a centralised kitchen, one national phone number and web address, a yield management system and a guaranteed delivery window’. - See ‘Notes for Editors’ for a detailed explanation of how the easyPizza.com model works.

Good value pizza is attracting a new sector of customers who, until now, have not been able to afford the luxury and convenience of pizza delivery on a regular basis. In Segensworth, pizza orders start from £4.50 for the one-size 11.5” pizza in 10 tasty varieties (or £8.50 for two pizzas) – this gives the customer an average 50 percent saving vs. Dominos or Pizza Hut delivery. Without a high street presence, considerable savings are made on rent, rates and fit out costs, and these are passed onto the customer. Further savings can be made by ordering pizza at low times, such as 4 pm, as opposed to peak times, such as at lunchtime or in the evening. A centralised kitchen ensures consistency of quality and labour saving at the site and to order, there is just one telephone number, 0871 210 2000 and one website www.easyPizza.com. Delivery hours in Segensworth are currently 4 pm to midnight Monday to Thursday and midday to midnight on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The easyPizza.com franchise
Franchising is through a business partnership relationship aptly called ‘co-habiting’ and is based on working with small, good local independents and bolting easyPizza.com onto their existing operation.

Often, existing operators only need to make small changes to their business: extra storage for the product, adding an oven deck that can cook easyPizza.com products to the company’s standards, adding the-online booking system to the operation. Rarely does an operator need to start from scratch.

easyPizza.com provides the core pizzas and the packaging, whilst the franchisee provides the side orders from an approved source, presented in easyPizza.com packaging. The initial investment is very small for a franchise, from as little as £5,000, depending on the requirements of the operator.

In Segensworth, running easyPizza.com and Manhattan Pizzas side by side is a seamless operation. Both brands co-habit under one roof, thus allowing the operator to leverage his fixed costs by running two businesses from the same premises. Because the operation is delivery only, the customer only needs to know that, when an easyPizza.com is ordered, the expectations are met.

The easyPizza.com product
The range of 10 set pizzas are available in one size only, 11.5”, and include The Big Cheese, Ha-Mush, Hawaiian, Greenhouse, Double Pepperoni, Meaty Mania, El Stel, Volcano, 4cheesy and Indiana. Of these, three are vegetarian choices.

Each 11.5” pizza provides eight slices, ideal for one hungry person, although half provides an ample meal with sides. Understanding the emphasis on healthy eating and the role for a balanced diet, easyPizza.com is the only pizza delivery company to fully disclose the ingredients and the nutritional value of its products on its website. Each half pizza provides around 700 – 800 calories, depending on the variety, thus helping the consumer make an informed choice and ‘enjoy in moderation’.

Pizza Market overview and trends
The pizza delivery market has been one of the fastest growing markets in the sector for a number of years and continues to grow at a steady rate of 2 percent per year. Pizza now accounts for 9 percent of the total eating out market in the UK serving 320 meal occasions per year. Out of the total UK population, 8 percent now uses a food home delivery service, in which pizza plays a dominant role.

Dominos and Pizza Hut tend to dominate the UK market, and a couple of other fairly strong brands are gathering momentum. Whilst customers have to pay a premium price for these pizzas, the independent operators who often offer a more competitive price are being squeezed out of the market.

An easyPizza.com franchise adds value to the existing business of the independents and provides guarantee of product quality, punctuality of delivery, eager price point and all-round cost efficiency. Franchisee enquires are welcome at Websites: www.easy.com and www.easyPizza.com