Eagle Boys Pizza says it has overtaken Pizza Hut as Australia’s second largest pizza seller as its national network grows beyond 281. Domino's remains the leader in the pizza sector.
Eagle Boys management expects the store count to climb to 300 by Christmas this year. This includes operations across five store models – local, micro, standard, drive-thru and express. According to their website, Pizza Hut currently has 271 stores.
During the 12 months to June 30 this year, Eagle Boys opened a record 56 new stores – more than one a week - including converting Pizza Haven stores following the company’s purchase of the brand last year.
Since Eagle Boys Pizza was purchased by private equity firm NBC Capital and the current executive team in 2007, network store numbers have grown by 63 per cent - the highest period of growth in the company’s 22-year history.
Apart from bolstering its network in Queensland, NSW and Western Australia, the company also entered new markets of Sydney, Adelaide and regional South Australia for the first time.
Eagle Boys Pizza saw sales grow 16.4 per cent during the 12 months, bringing total sales growth during the past three years to 43.2 per cent.
The company expects the strong double digit growth to continue during the 2009-10 financial year and plans to bolster its position by opening more than 100 new stores by June 2011.
Eagle Boys Pizza Managing Director Todd Clayton said the record store openings, coupled with the launch of the company’s revamped menu, had driven Eagle Boys to become Australia’s second largest pizza maker.
“In a David versus Goliath battle, Eagle Boys has knocked American pizza multinational Pizza Hut off the podium and stolen the number two spot in Australia’s pizza hierarchy,” he said. “Our greatest growth has come in the past two years since NBC Capital and the current executive team purchased the company.
“Despite the market doom and gloom, we are continuing to enjoy strong year-on-year comparable store growth. Helping spur our sales growth was the launch of our Premium pizza range. The range, which includes toppings like Zesty Lemon Prawn and Chicken Club, now constitutes over 20 per cent of our sales,” Clayton said.
“While many businesses are being conservative with growth forecasts in the current climate, the pizza industry remains robust. When times get tough, people often turn to pizza as an affordable family meal instead of more expensive fast food or restaurant meals.”
Source: Eagle Boys Pizza