A troubling year for franchisor Retail Food Group (RFG) hasn’t affected customer satisfaction at staple brand Crust Pizza, new data suggests.
The chain took out the Quick Service Restaurant of the Month Awards for July, its second in succession with a customer satisfaction rating of 93 per cent. The awards are based on findings from surveys conducted by leading independent market research company, Roy Morgan.
Crust Pizza ratings growth
The Crust Pizza win marks significant growth in the customer satisfaction category for the brand, which has received a wealth of media attention over the last 12 months.
Earlier this year, it was reported that RFG had engaged in the early stages of an asset sales process that would offload the brand, alongside network stablemates. No deal was formally reached, with RFG committing to driving growth at the pizza chain.
While the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) market in Australia is highly competitive, the results indicate the chain’s recent rebranding strategy has been successful. Roy Morgan identified that the average Crust Pizza consumer was more likely to be a man (54 per cent) than a woman (46 per cent), and far more likely than the average Australian to be aged between 25-34 years old.
Additionally, 90 per cent of Crust Pizza customers ‘enjoy food from all over the world’, 79 per cent ‘try to eat healthily but don’t want to compromise on taste’, and 33 per cent ‘seldom have time for breakfast’ – all significantly higher than the average Australian.
Michele Levine, Roy Morgan CEO said the strong result was due reward for Crust Pizza’s continued customer-focus.
“As food loving Australians, we all have our favourite kind of fast food. However, when it comes to pleasing hungry customers, Crust Pizza is dishing out the highest level of satisfaction,” Levine said.
“Crust Pizza, and most other quick service restaurants in July’s top five, have done a fantastic job at improving their customer satisfaction ratings over the past year, which isn’t surprising given the amount of quality competition in the market.”
Customer satisfaction results
Also reporting a strong result in the QSR customer satisfaction ratings was Asian street food franchise Noodle Box, which came in second. After breaking into the top five in February, the noodle chain has achieved a 13 per cent increase in ratings since July 2018.
“Noodle Box, which finished in second place in July, is now seriously threatening Crust Pizza for the number one spot. Noodle Box is yet to win a monthly customer satisfaction award, but if the current trend continues, expect that to change very soon,” Levine said.
Embattled franchise chain Subway was the only QSR brand to see a major slip in customer satisfaction, falling out of the top five.
“The only change to this month’s top five quick service restaurants is that Portuguese themed chicken expert, Oporto, has entered in fourth position, replacing sandwich chain Subway, which has now slipped out of contention,” Levine said.
The Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards are based on findings from the firm’s Single Source survey, which takes into account in-depth face-to-face interviews with 1000 Australians each week.