There is something for everyone on the pizza platform today, and picking the right option for a business investment includes understanding the product and brand offer, and the potential for revenue growth. For instance, will the company have an extensive, varied menu or is pizza the star of the show? How do technology and social media impact the business? Is the pizza gourmet, take-away, restaurant quality or a little bit of each? And what about the image the business is trying to portray to the public? Is the brand focused on healthy or top quality ingredients, is value for money the catchphrase, or does speedy service define the offer?

A potential franchisee can review these options, decide if a business has the drive and focus needed to capitalise on them, and take research to the next stage.

What’s on offer?

One of the biggest players in the market, Domino’s Pizza pays special attention to having something for everyone. In addition to the three-tiered pizza offering of premium, traditional and value pizzas, the menu includes pastas, salads, chicken wings, a lunchtime sandwich range, desserts, and of course, garlic bread.

Earlier this year, the franchise partnered with Channel 10’s weight loss program, The Biggest Loser, launching the Good Choice range; meals which all have less than 390 calories.

According to Domino’s chief executive Don Meij, it’s important for pizza companies to stay true to their key offering, but having a number of different options on the menu allows them to market throughout the day and evening and to a variety of customers. “The whole meal occasion is about choice,” he says. “Pizza is our heart and we will continue to focus on pizza. But if you get a family of four to six people, not everyone will want pizza all the time, so now there are some other options there.”

Eagle Boys has a very similar approach. Not only does it offer a number of pizza alternatives, it caters for a range of different dietary requirements, whether it be fat-free, gluten-free, vegetarian or dairy-free. The chain has a children’s meal range as well.

Todd Clayton, its chief executive, says having a broad menu is crucial in the congested and competitive quick service restaurant (QSR) market. “It’s very, very important for profitability, and particularly for us, to compete in the fast food market. The cost of doing business today is very expensive, plus the consumers time is very poor, so we try to compete in that one-stop shop if you like. It’s about competing in the space and in the category so that we give the customer a much broader offering,” he says.

The wide range of products that pizza companies now offer is simply a response to today’s discerning consumer, says Pizza Hut’s chief business development officer, Craig Mason. People no longer walk into a pizza shop happy to pick from a limited choice of toppings and add garlic bread. They want to know that their specific tastes will be catered to.

“Everywhere you go now, everyone wants more variety and more choice and more options,” Mason says.

“It’s operationally more challenging [to have an extensive menu] but from the expectations of our customers I think if all you do is have the same five pizzas for 20 years, you’re not going to keep your customers or attract new ones.”

However, gourmet take-away franchise chain Crust, with 63 franchises, doesn’t have the same business philosophy. While Crust does offer side salads and small, pre-packaged desserts, co-founder Michael Logos believes it’s more effective to perfect a range of different pizzas than to offer a little bit of everything.

“We do one thing and we do it well, and that’s pizza – premium pizza,” he explains. “The pizza industry has changed a lot over the past five years. A lot of the other players in the market are coming into that premium space as well, so the challenge for us is to keep differentiating ourselves, whether it be in a healthy space, whether it be in the allergen market with our gluten-free pizzas or whether it be in going one step above that and differentiating ourselves with another offering, which is a premium range of Upper Crust pizzas.”

Value for money and affordability also play a part in how extensive a pizza company’s menu is, says Pizza Capers co-founder, Anthony Russo. Pizza and pasta are the company’s core products and Russo believes that add-ons and side dishes are more suited to those companies that focus most strongly on price and increasing each customer’s spend.

In the US side orders raise the average transaction value but this is not relevant to gourmet level menus, he believes. “We’d just prefer to have the best pizza and the best pasta than have the third best potato wedge or the fourth best ribs.”