Greenwich re-invents itself (again)

The first store inside the Greenhills Commercial Center is no longer there. But there are 192 other stores nationwide to choose from.

This year, Greenwich Pizza Corp. celebrates its 30th year, the last seven years as a subsidiary of Jollibee Foods Corp.

"One of the advantages of being a subsidiary is piggy-backing on Jollibee’s backroom operations such as legal, real estate and purchasing" said operations director Yasmin Gruet, who was seconded by Jollibee to Greenwich in 1994.

In the area of purchasing, Jollibee acts as a Greenwich’s supplier for shared common food products such as meat. "Jollibee gives us a quotation price that includes warehousing. If the price is reasonable, we buy from Jollibee; if the price is on the high side, we ask Jollibee to reconsider and renegotiate. Our last resort is to look to someone else but that hasn’t happened yet."

Shared services has enabled Greenwich to keep its raw material costs down. The savings are passed on to consumers in terms of prices which have not been increased in the past seven years. Wastage has also been limited to one percent.

Crust factory

Greenwich, however, maintains its own pizza crust factory and the material sourcing that goes with it. The factory has been fully automated for the last three years, enhanced by the recent purchase of a P120-million equipment from France.

"Automation has made a great difference in our ability to make crusts of consistent quality. While our systems worked well even when we were still partially automated, there were deviations which are unacceptable in the fastfood business where standardization is a priority," Gruet said.

Gruet describes the Greenwich crust as "not the crackle type but crunchy; not crispy but chewy or with a bite to it."

Repositioning

"We’re still a pizza and pasta place but we’ve repositioned our market away from teen-agers and towards young working adults," said marketing director Rosario Caluya. "We’re lower-priced than competition but we don’t offer discounts. We want customers to discover how good our products are."

Caluya, another Jollibee officer seconded to Greenwich early this year, has pushed for broader menu choices. Aside from the six choices of regular crust pizzas, a thick crust pizza with mozzarella and a choice premium toppings called "primo," was recently introduced. Potato and garlic sticks were piloted in selected outlets and have since been launched nationwide. "It’s difficult to introduce some products like fried chicken in all our stores," said Caluya. "We have stores that have enough kitchen space to handle the additional cooking involved and we have stores that do not."

Renovation

To standardize the physical lay-out of all its stores, Greenwich has embarked on a four-year renovation program that would make more efficient use of kitchen space and would open up the eating areas as well as introduce the new corporate design and colors.

Renovation is ongoing, starting with stores that have impact, either in terms of heavy patronage and high sales. "We launched the new colors and our new lower case logo at our SM San Fernando outlet late last year," Gruet said.

To date, eight stores have been renovated at an estimated cost per store of between P7 million and P9 million, the going rate of a Greenwich franchise.

Under the program, two stores will be renovated every month until all 192 stores are finished. "The company owns 125 of these stores, which makes it easier for us to schedule their renovations. With franchisees, we have to consider if their cash flow allows for such an additional expense," Gruet said.

Pushing the envelope

Until Caluya came onboard, marketing was localized at the store level. "The stores reported to Gruet on the operational level but they had to do their own marketing."

Caluya has put in place a two-pronged marketing plan that focuses on introducing new products throughout the fastfood chain, on the one hand, and encouraging creative marketing at the local store level, on the other hand.

"Creating new products means increased business and that, in turn, means more traffic. People want to try out new things. If they like what they ate the first time, they will come back a second and a third time and they will bring their friends with them," Caluya said.

To speed up food ordering and service, Greenwich offers packaged meals inclusive of soft drinks called "value treat meals". For the same reason, Greenwich does not offer combo meals.

Greenwich also holds quarterly sales rallies and an annual convention. In the quarterly rallies, corporate officers go to the different regions and talk as well as listen to the problems and achievements of the store officers. The reverse happens in the annual convention, which is held in Manila.

"We bring to Manila all store managers at company expense to map out next year’s targets. It’s a not-to-be-missed bonding experience and a learning from each other program. At the end of the convention, we all know where we’re going and what is needed to get there," Gruet said.

"And one of these is to beat last year’s sales," Caluya said.