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INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads | | SEPTEMBER 21, 2000 SMART ANSWERS By Karen E. Klein Selling Pizza to Italians A pizzeria-chain owner needs to set his business apart in a country where "pizza is pizza"
----Stefano Salvischiani, Italy A: You're on the right track to want to differentiate your pizza from the many others that are available. What you're dealing with is the same issue that faces all businesses -- from car designers, to toymakers, service providers, and tennis-racket manufacturers: How do you set your product and service apart from the crowd? And how do you communicate your unique message to your target customers? If pizza is pizza in Italy, that means there's a great opportunity for you to market your pies as something special and different. "Establish a position as the best pizza in a certain, attractive category," says Raymond L. Coen, a sales and marketing consultant based in Pacific Palisades, Calif. In the U.S., various companies have claimed certain territory -- Little Caesar's markets itself as the cheapest pizza, and Domino's is the one that specializes in home delivery. Various independent pizza stores claim to have the best quality, the most authentic recipes, or best-tasting pies. Papa Johns proved the concept by building a chain with 2,200 units and $1.3 billion in sales, long after Pizza Hut and Dominos and thousands of other pizzerias were built all over the U.S. You might introduce the delivery concept, which has been successful in the U.S., suggests John Hamburger, a Minnesota-based food consultant who publishes the Restaurant Finance Monitor newsletter. "You could experiment with the many different types of pizza that California Pizza Kitchen has been successful in selling, i.e. barbecued chicken or spicy versions," Hamburger says. It is not necessarily enough just to say your pizza is the "healthiest," "uses the finest fresh ingredients," is "gourmet," or some other claim, however. Try to make your marketing uniquely appealing to your target customers, says Art Manask, of Manask & Associates, in Burbank, Calif. "Just as Lexus and Saturn target different customers and tailor their marketing accordingly, the same would be true with your pizza," Manask says. Your outlets, in shopping malls, will help determine who your target customers are and what they want from your pizzerias. Think about getting your existing customers together for focus groups and asking them what they would like in a pizza chain, then test their suggestions with a wider audience. Once you settle on an avenue that will differentiate your chain from the pack, get your story across with big signage at the stores, staking your claim, Coen advises. If you can make the investment, this critical juncture would be a great time to have some professional guidance and expertise for your business. Look for a consultant who works with retail establishments and chains. When interviewing prospective consultants, be sure to ask for references, and talk to clients who've had them do similar work, making sure they feel they got their money's worth from the professional help.  Have a question about running your business? Ask our small-business experts. Send us anail at smartanswers@businessweek.com, or write to Smart Answers, BW Online, 6th Floor, 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121. Please include your real name and phone number in case we need more information; only your initials and city will be printed. Because of the volume of mail, we won't be able to respond to all questions personally.  | | |
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