What you need to know
For the first time, 2019 will see the majority of pizza/Italian restaurant sales coming from the takeaway sector. The rising cost of operating sit-down venues will be unsustainable for some pizza and Italian restaurants in the long run. Instead of adding more restaurant sites, operators will focus on two areas: enhancing the dining experiences at their flagship stores and expanding their delivery catchment areas through third-party delivery companies (eg Deliveroo, Uber Eats).
However, efforts to enhance dining experiences will be to no avail if operators fail to listen to their customers’ opinions. For example, families love watching chefs cook. As such, chefs cooking in an open kitchen are not only entertaining families; they also give diners transparency/confidence over the freshness of ingredients and hygiene in the restaurant.
Meanwhile, pizza or Italian restaurants and takeaways continue to face tough competition from the grocery sector, meaning restaurant operators are forced to generate stronger perceptions of being seen as good value for money. And yet, value for money is not just based on low prices. It is about justifying the cost of good quality ingredients that are nutritious and taste good.
Products covered in this Report
This Report covers those foodservice establishments where pizza is the primary sales item. Within the scope of the Report, takeaway/delivery and dine-in restaurants are considered. They are largely based on the European and North American pizza and Italian restaurant models, typified by Domino’s Pizza for the takeaway/delivery market, Pizza Hut for the pizza restaurants market and PizzaExpress for the Italian restaurants market.
Pizza and Italian restaurants also tend to offer other food types to pizza, such as pasta, meat and vegetarian options. The way the market has been changing means that although the core restaurant models define these segments, more and more pizza and Italian restaurants now offer both dine-in and takeaway/home delivery options.
