Increased product offer encourages chains and pizza companies to innovate

The pizzas market goes through a process of expansion which forced the companies to implement strategies to recover them growth levels it three years ago

The economic recession that has known the country since 2015 has incited people who lost their jobs to generate other sources of income . In this way, new restaurants kiosks and "food trucks" specialized in pizzas were born.

This new competition generated a larger bid product on the Ecuadorian market which had a negative impact on sales of of traditional channels.

The Plazuela Pizzeria is a small company that opened in December of last year (2017). Its owners Carlos Tamayo and Natalia Santamaría, bet on this object in Quito as a branch of the company that they maintain in in Colombia .

To differentiate itself from other pizzerias, Plazuela offers artisbad dishes prepared with inputs from local producers. In this enterprise, the owners promote cultural activities to attract customers to their premises.

There are actors on the market who have announced an expansion . The Spanish company Telepizza acquired the Ecuadorian Pizza Hut franchise . Telepizza operates in Ecuador from its office in the basement of General Gómez's grandstand at Capwell Stadium in Guayaquil.

There is also one of its 23 local in the country and it has exclusivity for the sale of food at the Emelec stadium, as a result from an agreement reached with the club on an innovative business model in the entertainment sector. In a clbadic game with Barcelona or Copa Libertadores, you will be able to sell up to 4,000 pizzas.

Now, with the new negotiation will add the group of the Spanish capital. 61 stores in the country. It will become the leader in the pizza market

Telepizza arrived in Ecuador in 2012 and opened his first store in 2013; currently billing $ 5 million a year. The turnover of Pizza Hut in the country amounts to 21 million USD per year.

Last May, the Spanish company entered into an agreement with Pizza Hut on the master of franchises in the region, from Mexico to Argentina, to the United States. exception of Brazil. The strategy is to develop the brand directly or through local operators.

Ecuador is the first country where a purchase was made said Jesus Hernandez, director of Ecuador and Panama and director of Master-Franchises in Latin America.

Redeemed companies Sodetur and Costa Hut, Pizza Hut franchisees in the country and owner of 38 stores on the national territory. Telepizza's expansion plans in the country are expected to reach 100 local in 10 years, according to Hernandez.

This scenario has the effect of increasing the dynamism of the fast food market (including pizzerias), which, up to 2016, was worth about $ 211.6 million a year and employed 12,597 people, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC).

The pizzerias of the country are already operating in some strategies to cope with competition .

One of them concerns the price . . For example, Pizzeria Di Rulo, which operates in the city of Quito, has decided to keep its prices unchanged from 2014, said Luis Torres, owner of the company.

For Diego Vivero, owner of Pizza SA and president Provincial Chamber of Tourism of Pichincha (Captur) the multiplication of the contest in the sector is an opportunity of opening ] new market niches . "There is room for homemade pizzas and gourmet pizzas for another group of customers."

There are innovative offers in their premises, such as pork pizzas from India or fig. With this strategy, Pizza SA has achieved a sales growth oscillating between 6 and 10% this year, even if it does not reach the levels before 2015.

For Torres, of Pizzeria Di Rulo, the contest does not come only from the big pizza chains but from all kinds of restaurants.

For this reason, his menu includes, in addition to pizzas, other dishes. such as barbecue wings, smoked ribs and pork ribs, which led to sales growth, said the restaurant owner, but without giving any figures.

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