Giving Up Pizza

"Wait!" I hear you all cry. "There's no need for such a rash decision."

Okay, so it is, as most things are in my blog, an exaggeration, but what I am giving up are any pizzas purchased from Dominos and Eagle Boys.


Dominos: Unlike the boxes, not stacked

First, Dominos. I ordered one of their cheap pizzas a few months back - the sort that cost you less than the bottle of Coke you also bought with them cos you found some ridiculous deal on the back of a supermarket receipt. Now, I realise it was cheap, but 1 piece of pepperoni per slice is taking the piss. This isn't going to bring me back to order more, no matter how cheap they are. I realise the pizza still technically qualifies it under the description of 'pepperoni' pizza but there really should be some sort of law on the amount of toppings required to justify its name.


Eagle Boys: An eagle & a boy, no pizza in sight

Then comes Eagle Boys. Now Eagle Boys have got more sneaky - their pizzas are as cheap as Dominos, but they offer a $3 deal where you can double the toppings, tacitly acknowledging that they ain't putting enough on in the first place. We ordered two - on they forgot to double our pleasure, and the other was so swamped with toppings, it was impossible to eat as most of them had failed to cook or heat properly.

So I'm giving both venues up. Style and slick marketing have over-taken the basic requirement to provide quality food, or at least quality food for the level of investment. As Dominos cuts its price over and over, and Eagle Boys match every offer and even accept the competitor coupons, the inevitable out-come is that the food will become inedible.

Both outlets are crying out for a 'premium' option. One that can be delivered to your house, or collected and is made, and priced, like a PROPER pizza. Asking the consumer to throw another $3 at a problem isn't a long term solution. 'Premiumisation' has swamped every other industry; it can't be long before the pizza fast-food industry joins the band-wagon.

I once sat on a judging panel for a student business competition with one of the marketing team from Eagle Boys, and he markered a team well for creating a 'build 'em cheap and stack 'em' new pizza flavour, something he said was successful in his industry.

I'd now question him as to whether anything in his industry WASN'T conforming to that model. It's all stacked high. None of it is boutique.

I'll sit here and wait for the flyer for the pizza company selling me premium pizzas for $20 a pop. It has to come in the end. Otherwise this is where the industry will end up...