Eagle eyes slice of SA pizza action
Pizza makers are benefitting from tightening purse strings, a fact Australian-owned chain Eagle Boys is banking on as it pursues aggressive expansion plans into Adelaide.
“Pizza is one of those industries that will typically benefit in a recession when times are tough,” said Scott Hamilton, the chain’s national marketing manager. “People tend to turn to pizza; you can feed a family comfortably for less than $20.”
Brisbane-based Eagle Boys first fired up the ovens in Albury, News South Wales, in 1987. The American-modelled franchise is now Australia’s third-largest pizza maker, with around 250 shops across the country making more than 15 million pizzas a year.
Majority owned by private equity firm NBC Capital after a May 2007 management buy-in, Eagle Boys continued its rapid growth last financial year. It opened 51 new stores and posted sales growth of 21.9 per cent and revenue of more than $125 million.
The move into Adelaide, supported by a $7 million national advertising campaign, comes on the back of the July 2008 purchase of Pizza Haven – then Australia’s fourth-largest pizza maker – and funds held over from Eagle Boys’ sale of its New Zealand chain to Pizza Hut in 2000.
“We felt that going in through the Pizza Haven acquisition was the right strategy,” Hamilton said.
“In total there were 34 stores in that acquisition. Our plan for Pizza Haven is to fully convert that brand into the Eagle Boys banner. We’re well over halfway in our conversion process.”
Along with former Pizza Haven outlets in Berri, Port Augusta and Port Lincoln, stores in Semaphore and Seaford have already taken on the glowing, pink Eagle Boys style. The company’s expansion plans, however, are not limited to store conversion.
“We are keen to grow into Adelaide quickly. We’ve identified a number of opportunities beyond the existing sites – probably 11 or 12 we’d like to move into very quickly,” Mr Hamilton said.
ANDREW SCHURGOTT
14/02/2009 4:00:00 AM