Pizza for the masses

Despite a pizza market lorded over by big US franchises, a local brand – Lots’A Pizza – has thrived and grown to 34 outlets in just six years.

Although Teresita Ngan Tian and husband, Ed, have been in the fastfood business since 1987, it was only in 1996 that they decided to spin off pizza as a separate business after they saw the product’s demand among their student-customers.

"The pizza crust is the major component of the finished product. Lots’A Pizza had to develop its own quality dough from the basic building blocks of flour, water, yeast and salt. With this as foundation, we created our own crust," said Ngan Tian, who took up a pizza technology course in the United States before she and her husband put up a new company called Midwest Food Industries, Inc. The crust and the sauce that Ngan Tian also developed are made in a commissary that supplies all 34 outlets.

Of this total, nine are company-owned, 14 are franchise outlets and 11 are dealers. The chain has concentrated its outlets in Metro Manila, Cavite and Bulacan, with three new franchised outlets opening this month alone.

Franchising

Midwest Food began franchising the Lots’A Pizza chain in 1999 for two reasons: one, to speed up expansion; and two, to give people who don’t have millions in their bank account a chance to open up their own business.

For a franchise fee of P100,000, the franchisee gets nine days of training for himself and two weeks of training for his service crew. The franchisee also gets initial marketing support and site evaluation.

Constructing the outlet is another matter. A franchisee will need at least 10 square meters for a take-out counter and 20 to 25 square meters to provide dine-in service. The cost of constructing and furnishing the outlet with the necessary equipment ranges from P250,000 to P300,000.

"Our business objective is clear. We want to serve the middle market by providing affordable and quality pizza. Sometimes, our franchise applicants get impatient with our site evaluation and processing. We tell them that if we approve their applications now, we would immediately get our franchise fee. But we’re after our partner’s viability as well," said Ngan Tian.

Targetting the middle market, Lots’A Pizza prices range from as low as P30 for the small or six-inch crust to as high asP170 for a large or 12-inch crust. Within the year, the pizza chain will introduce a 14-inch crust as well as a pasta line in the dine-in outlets.

"We have to remain competitive," said Ngan Tian, who regularly attends pizza conferences and courses to gain new insights and learn about the latest product technologies. Part of that kind of networking is Midwest Foods’s membership in the National Restaurant Association, which is based in Washington DC, and the National Association of Pizza Operators in the US.