Am I Cornered?

Visit: Pizza Corner in Adayar, Chennai (7.30 pm)

Tag line: Better Pizza through Quality and Innovation

Aesthetics of store:

-          TV at one end was  playing “True lies” from star movies

-          A/C was set at a comfortable level

-          Music was pleasant

-          The waiters welcomed me to the table and smiled at me as soon as I entered the hotel

-          a huge Modern art was in display at one corner, with pizza corner logo scattered all around.

On the Table, in front of each chair a large sheet of paper was there with the following,

-          website Information

-          twitter Information

-          Kid photos showing different expression

-          Cross word puzzles, snake & ladder and ludo with pizza icons was printed.

A special list of kids meals was displayed in one corner. There were small displays of 5 rs. cards on the walls catering to all ages. There was a CSR initiative chart for the environment stuck on the walls.

In the opposite end of the servicing counter was the kids zone with lot of sponge balls in a big tub.

Inside Information:

Pizza corner was under Global Franchise Architects. It also has other stores like Donut baker, Coffee world and Cream & Fudge under its comapny. The Founder is Mr. Fred Mouawad from Bangkok and its head office in India is Bangalore. The first outlet was opened in Chennai in 1996.  Mr. Sahay is the Head of Tamil Nadu outlets. They have stores in Madurai and Chennai. They are having 24 outlets in Chennai.

Every month, a discussion is made with corporate office about the store and the future plans. They discuss about the various seasonal offers that can be planned for the next three months. (e.g. IPL offer, diwali offer etc.)

Some common events generally conducted, Birthday parties, Pizza making work shop and kids games.  Common customers for lunch are Arihant Employees (e.g. offers such as Buy one Get one free) and families from nearby flats.

Marketing:

The majority of marketing is done through Word of Mouth marketing and fliers. They have a comprehensive feedback pamphlet collecting the relevant information. The logo means “lots of sauce with vegetable” as it has a red circle with a green triangle in a corner. The QMS department decides on the menus for the next 6 months. They also have a department for Phone/Online orders which transfers order to the individual outlet. They also try to localize the pizza to local south Indian tastes. This is signified in their hoarding outside their franchise as “yen pizza” meaning “my pizza”. There major positioning seem to be on “value for money” and “customer service” while the taste factor seems to be down (ruled by pizza hut and dominos).

In order to attract kids segment which seems to be their major segment, a new variation of cone shaped pizza called conizza was introduced.

SWOT analysis of pizza corner:

Conclusion:

The current psychographics ensure the pizza concept to be in fashion for the one or two decades at least with lot of market potential due to rising income levels and vast rural population influx to cities and towns. So, Pizza corner should work on their major weaknesses and target the market leader position.