Local pizza joints float above nation’s sinking sales

Pizza lovers like junior Danielle Leimbach help local pizzerias stay afloat during turbulent economic times.

Leimbach broke her New Year’s resolution two weeks after she swore to order the “Big Bargain” from Pizza Express only once a month.

“Everyone knows about my obsession,” she said about the pizza, breadstick and soda deal that she ordered three times a week last semester. “I tried really hard to order less, so I compromised a thin instead of a thick crust.”

Some local pizza restaurants are staying ahead of a wave of slowing sales across the country, showing that college students will still shell out for the pizza they love.

Franchise Direct, an organization that gathers data on national businesses, collected information from 20 pizza chains and reported sinking sales since 2007. The Annual Pizza Power Report from 2008 noted a 1 percent decline in national sales from 2006 to 2007, the report’s most recent figures published in PMQ Pizza Magazine.

Restaurant business was down 1 percent at the end of 2008, according to a press release from The NPD Group, a marketing research company. The group predicted an even bleaker 2009.

Pizza in a college town is different than pizza sold to families, said Pizza Express founder and CEO Jeff Mease. There’s a demand for quick and cheap food, no matter how bad the economy becomes. Mease said sales aren’t dropping, but they might be growing at a slower rate than in the past.

“Any time you’ve got an economic issue, it helps if you’ve got brand loyalty,” Mease said. “We haven’t seen a strong drop in sales, but we’ve had really strong growth in the last couple years, and we can feel that it’s not as strong as it has been.”

Jesse Bloom, Pizza Express general manager for the 10th Street location, said he sells a strong 500 to 700 pizzas every night of the weekend. He said at his specific store, sales are slightly lower than last year at this time, but it’s not enough of a decrease that the phone seems to ring any less. On the last Saturday in February, Bloom said his store sold 585 pizzas, compared to 597 last year on the same weekend.

Aver’s Pizza owner Brad Randall said the speed and ease of ordering pizza actually increases sales during economically rough times. January’s sales were up 6.5 percent compared with January 2008, he said.

“When people cut back on dining out, they cut back on going out to eat at larger chains,” he said. “That’s when we actually do a little more carry-out.”

He said coupon inserts in the Indiana Daily Student drive up phone orders, and the “Family Feeder” of two large pizzas for $16.99 has been a hit.

Price is just one factor that affects brand loyalty during hard times, said Raymond
Burke, a professor of marketing in the Kelley School of Business. A pizzeria can brand itself in four ways: the pizza itself, the cost of the pie, the location of the business and its promotion, he said.

Aver’s, Pizza Express and Mother Bear’s share one large benefit: a party-friendly college town that’s as open to late-night food as it is to keg stands. Price-wise, all three brands offer cheap specials and coupons.

Mother Bear’s sold heart-shaped pizzas on Valentine’s Day weekend, and sales were around $30,000, a 23 percent increase from last year’s sales that weekend, said owner Ray McConn. He said overall sales are up 16 percent compared to last year.

Pizza Express also plans to simplify its name from “Pizza Express” to “Pizza X,” and is rolling out an advertising campaign for the new name starting March 31. Mease said the switch protects the company’s identity if it grows or changes hands.

Leimbach said despite the name switch and the wake-up call of what she called a “$30-a-week-habit,” she makes room in her budget for the pizza she craves.

“It doesn’t bother me that the name will be different,” she said, “as long as the pizza doesn’t change.”

Pizza Express manager Bloom said business relies on that kind of student support to carry the brand.

“At our campus store, we’re seeing more growth than at our residential stores,” he said. “I’m no economist, but the University is essentially our industry.”