Franchising spoke to Todd Clayton recently about expansion plansÉ

“WeÕre coming out of an expansion which was all regional and have gone across Brisbane, Sydney, Perth and most recently Adelaide. The brandÕs been alive 23 years and over 130 stores have been opened since the management buy-out in March 2007; we will all but double the outlets by June 30 of 2010 with 20 new stores opening.

“Queensland will have 20 more stores but these will grow gradually. The focus is on Sydney and South Australia. WeÕve been very successful in SA, there was always a risk in being last to market but weÕre doing well.

“WeÕre in regional Victoria but leaving Melbourne to last. There are a few outlets in Sydney. We will open 50 new stores within the next 12 months nationally, with more than half being opened in Sydney. Sydney/NSW will see over 100 new stores opened in the next two years.”

Will these be stand alone, and in the suburbs?

“TheyÕll all be standalone and all franchised, and there are no plans for acquisitions in Sydney. The last major acquisition we did was Pizza Haven, of 32 stores with a dozen or so outlets giving us a foothold in Sydney, weÕve converted nearly all of those now.

“WeÕll start in the suburbs and work in though weÕve only recently been asked for CBD sites, which would give us some presence.”

WhatÕs the potential in South Australia?

“ItÕs a much smaller market so around 20 to 30 stores across the whole state.”

How do you compete against the bigger brands?

“Pizza is very competitive. We needed a real point of difference, so we extended our menu and focused on taste and product. We introduced some gourmet pizza, upgraded our desserts, to move into the middle market. Gourmet is doing well, globally actually.

“It will take some years to own that space. ItÕs about having better value, better tasting pizza and we see a real opportunity.”

What about overseas expansion?

“WeÕre looking at Japan at the moment. There are a number of pizza players and the younger generation wants to be more Westernised. India too. But we want to settle Australia down, make sure our franchisees are profitable, position ourselves for growth. IÕd be disappointed if we werenÕt overseas in two years. WeÕll be going the master franchise route.

“To get global markets we really need to be careful, weÕll be looking for food or retail experience, but not necessarily franchising experience because thatÕs our expertise.”

How many of your franchisees are profitable?

“By far the majority are happy with how we are structured and we have grown from 14 percent multiunit ownership to 40 percent now of the network. TheyÕre re-investing in the system so are obviously happy.”

How will the big brands like Pizza Hut and DominoÕs fight back, they have plenty of financial and marketing gunpowder?

“I canÕt talk on behalf of them. From where we sit as competition, weÕre not constrained by the US, so we have a free reign to grow our offering with the consumer demand in mind; all of our product development comes from research based on Australia and international food trends. They have access to the US to be quicker to market.

“I think Eagle Boys has very much been the driving force here. ItÕs about being honest and real, not having a gimmicky product offer. Customers want pizza to be good value and good for them, we have completed and rebuilt all of our pizzas for better tasting ingredients.”

So whatÕs next?

“At the end of March we introduced 31 new menu items including gluten friendly pizzas and a range of a 92.7 percent fat free pizzas, one of a line of new pizzas on the menu and we will continue to extend the menu range of pizza, pasta and dessert.

“Recognising the growing demand for healthier options during the past few years, we have worked hard at creating delicious menu items which not only have less fat, but also taste great.

“Australian pizza lovers donÕt accept compromise. They want healthier pizzas, but also want full-size pizzas, in a range of toppings, with all the ingredients, and with all the taste and flavour.”

And will this always a takeaway offer for Eagle Boys?

“IÕd love to do dine-in in Australia but for the costs and availability of land, the cost of labour, itÕs mostly restrictive. ItÕs not out of the question thoughÉ”