It’s essentially a slab of dough smothered in cheese and various toppings.
Nevertheless, there’s big money to be made in pizza, still a favourite fast food with Kiwis.
In the year to March, they spent close to $90 million at Pizza Hut – the largest of the local pizza chains.
But there’s more dough out there and with two aggressive rivals vying for a bigger slice of the market, competition for the pizza dollar is hotting up.
However, unlike the pizza market in Australia, the competition is not likely to drive pizza prices lower, one market player says. Instead, some pizza-makers are competing for the gourmet end of the market where they see the best opportunities for growth.
In launching a new advertising campaign earlier this month, Pizza Hut set out to protect its position against fast-growing franchises Domino’s Pizza and Hell Pizza.
Restaurant Brands, which owns the 107 Pizza Hut stores here, says it still holds the lion’s share of the pizza market – more than double its closest rivals – but the pressures of an increasingly competitive environment were evident in its financial results earlier this month.
Total pizza sales of $89.1 million were up 3.6 per cent on the year earlier.
But same-store pizza sales dropped 2.9 per cent for the year, with trading profit dropping $1.4 million $12.2 million.
Chief executive Vicki Salmon said rising freight costs and the price of cheese were also squeezing margins.
It hopes its “Pizza Mutt” campaign, which stars a terrier-cross dog with super-hero powers in its new television commercials, will drive sales and reinforce its market leadership.
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