NicksPizza
New member
[This is gonna get long and whiny.]
I’ve heard more and more people here in the TT and in bigger business circle mention that independents are negative, “down on” or critical toward the Big3 or other large corporate pizzeria entities. I wanted to start a thread about that and look directly at PJGirl’s message from a different thread. No attack on her, just an insight.
The fact that she mentions her PJ franchisee runs her shops “like an indie” seems a telling sort of statement. It bespeaks an understanding that there is a noticeable difference in the business models IN GENERAL. I think that there may be an overstatement or shift in the perception of the position of the small (1 or few location) pizzerias as we view the large, mega-shops. My marketplace conflict is with the $5 pizza machines that are trying to define the pizza market with their model of business, and drive the consumer purchasing decision by economy, low price, low cost ingredients and proliferation.
I’ll say at the outset that it has been a famously successful model. It plays to the lowest common denominator . . . people without a lot of money who aren’t that picky about their food. They serve a perfectly acceptable pizza for the price they sell, and they have a perceived value in the marketplace. They are marketing juggernauts who have sprouted like mushrooms after the rain, and can meet a huge market demand before straining the production volume. They are darned good at what they do.
My conflict is somewhat philosophical and competitive at the same time. I perceive them as “soiling” the marketplace and “dumbing down” the customer base. Again, it is a huge success for them as it reduces the appeal of the higher grade pizza products and inoculates the customers against places like mine. However, as their marketing message permeates the market, it soils the marketplace for those who don’t really want their product anyway. It creates unnecessary inertia/roadblocks for the the rest of the industry to overcome. The low cost/high volume machine model is destructive to the overall marketplace in that in commoditizes pizza into a fast-food association that should always be purchased “from the lowest bidder”.
PJ’s branding message of “better ingredients, better pizza” does sort of combat it, but it is about being the best production line food for the money. The market is artificially capped for expansion and growth because so many people won’t pay more than $11 for a 14" (or a 16") pizza. The deflated market ends up capping profits and growth for the whole industry. Think what would happen if that $5 deal were an $8 deal, and the cheapest 12" econo-pizza were $8. Trust me that we would all make a more comfortable profit. It’s the hippy in me talking about stewardship of the industry . … which competes with my business sense that respects that they are thriving in the game they are creating and keeping the competitors at a disadvantage in the marketplace.
If you aren’t going to earn the customers’ business, then leave them for the next guy positioned higher in the market. Sure, knee-cap the guys positioned where you are. That’s good business. Support the general pizza industry in public by leaving the overall perception of pizzas intact. The smaller volume, product quality driven businesses are pulling some different customers, but as well having to fight through the wake of the others to find the customers who would have no use for quicky/cheap, but are “collateral damage” of the marketing campaigns that hammer the cheap pizza message. They start thinking that good, or great, pizza has to cost less because . . . look what THEY are selling pizza for!
As rises popularity of mechanically identical pizza, in mass production shops, with less expensive ingredients possible for pricing model, so falls the value of more artisan, skilled pizza development and product. As the value of high end product falls, over time, so will fall the general market until everyone is eating frozen truck stop reheated pizzas with unlimited toppings for $8.75. The market will shrink more and more, and the dependence on that $5 will come around to devastate the entire industry . . . as it is doing to some of the Big3 again. Having to adapt to survive in the environment they themselves created.
[/long and whiny]
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