Putting PizzaExpress back on the map

PizzaExpress has come a long way since it was launched in 1965 by Peter Boizot in London’s Wardour Street.

Widely credited as a pioneer of casual dining, Boizot brought pizza chefs over from Italy and literally knocked down the walls to fit in authentic pizza ovens - decades before the today’s contemporary wave of Neapolitan-style concepts.

It was also a pioneer of experience-led restaurants, with the Dean Street site becoming synonymous with live jazz nights since they launched in 1969, and new plans to rebuild this legacy with new live venues as experiential dining comes back into vogue.

Yet despite a 400-plus UK estate, and a growing international business across five equity markets under Chinese owner Honey Capital, UK managing director Zoe Bowley believes she has a job to make people fall back in love with Pizza Express.

Speaking at the Casual Dining Show last week, she said though most people can remember their first PizzaExpress experience, and have a favoute pizza on the menu, it was not enough to rely on past glories

“You cannot confuse heritage with habit,” she said. “Heritage is important but it may not be as relevant in today’s market, and you need relevance to give you the edge in today’s market.

“We can’t repeat the same behaviour and expect the same outcomes; we cannot rest on our laurels.

“The sector has moved on and everyone has upped their game. There are some really good operators out there some of whom have given PizzaExpress a really good run for our money.

“One thing we’ve learned at Pizza Express is residual fondness does not guarantee you fondness in the future, if you’re not relevant.

“We can’t be arrogant enough to not listen. This industry is about having conversations.”

The frank admissions signal a time of transformation for the brand, as it tries to firm up its footing in an unsteady casual dining market.

Among the changes is a trial of a more contemporary style of eating, with small plates and sharing items.

Currently being trailed at 33 sites, she said early indications were very strong.

Bowley said the UK business has listened to hundreds of thousands of customers – both existing and lapsed – as well as staff and employers.

The results of this consultation are a “transformative agenda” rooted in people, customer centricity and driving sustainable growth, she said.

The group’s People Deal, aims to create a more engaged workforce “so we can make people fall back in love with PizzaExpress”.

“In the last six months, we’ve turned the dial and seen decreasing staff turnover,” Bowley said. “We know more people are staying, more want to join and that’s because of the foundations we’ve laid and transformed the way we deal with our people.”

On the customer side, she said there had been a renewed focus on service, efficiency and constituency, which had led to a 13% increase in satisfaction.

One of the biggest areas of transformation for the business have been in attempting to develop “emotionally rewarding relationships with customers”.

Huge investments in CRM (customer relationship management) digital and social intelligence are helping the business understand customers better and know how to add value, she said.

“We were a key player in the trend towards discounting in the industry, but it’s no longer about being broad-brush, we now know how to understand our customers.

“It’s about knowing me and catering for your needs. Without this, brand risks losing you rather than using you.”

Examples of this emotional engagement with customers include Christmas campaign ‘gather around great food’, which reached 9m people and led to a massive uptick in traffic and bookings and a good Christmas trading period.