Pizza Pizza

Pizza Pizza Ltd.
Private, with publicly traded royalty income fund
Traded as TSX: PZA
Industry
Genre Pizzeria
Founded December 31, 1967
Founder Michael Overs
Headquarters 500 Kipling Avenue
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Area served
 Ontario
Quebec
Manitoba
Saskatchewan
Nova Scotia
Alberta
British Columbia
Key people
 Paul Goddard (CEO)
Products Pizza
Chicken Wings
Pasta
Panzerotti
Subsidiaries Pizza 73
Website www.pizzapizza.ca

Pizza Pizza Ltd. is a franchised Canadian pizza quick-service restaurant, with its headquarters in Toronto, Ontario.[1] Its restaurants are mainly in the province of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and in western Canada. Franchises in western Canada are mostly run through Alberta-based subsidiary Pizza 73. It has over 500 locations, including over 150 non-traditional locations.

History

The chain was founded by Michael Overs, who opened the first location on December 31, 1967, at the corner of Wellesley and Parliament Streets in Toronto. He owned the chain until his death in 2010. It expanded throughout the Toronto area in the 1970s, and throughout the rest of Ontario throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

The chain opened its first locations in Quebec in the mid-1980s, but withdrew after a few years. It returned to the province, in Gatineau, in March 2007. Locations were opened in the Montreal area in late 2007 in the boroughs of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Pierrefonds-Roxboro.

Pizza Pizza began to expand significantly outside Ontario during the 2000s. In its 2005 initial public offering filings, the chain announced it would consider expansion in western Canada, potentially including purchasing existing local chains. This led to a June 2007 agreement to purchase Alberta-based Pizza 73. As well, in October 2006, the company announced it would expand in the Quebec market, beginning with sponsorship of the Montreal Canadiens.[2] The chain expanded to the British Columbia Lower Mainland in 2009, however all locations closed[3] (Pizza 73 already had a location in Prince George in the B.C. Interior), and soon after added locations in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Pizza Pizza opened its first store in Halifax, Nova Scotia in June 2010.

Major southern Ontario competitors include Pizza Hut, Domino's Pizza, Little Caesars, Gino's Pizza, Mamma's Pizza, Pizzaiolo, 241 Pizza, Double Double Pizza, and Pizza Nova. Two other major Canadian chains, Greco and Panago, which have a presence similar to Pizza Pizza in the Atlantic and Western Canada respectively, have entered the Ontario market. In Montreal, Quebec, its competitors are Mikes , Pizza Hut, and Double Pizza.

On March 6, 2017, Pizza Pizza introduced dairy-free, vegan cheese to the menu.[4]

Marketing techniques

Pizza Pizza is best known for the chain's phone number, XXX–1111. The company claims that its early adoption of the centralized single-number ordering system, and its subsequent use and heavy promotion of this rhyming phone number, helped the chain to expand through Ontario.

A central local number is used for all locations until it becomes a long distance call. In other cities, local numbers are requested with the "11-11" suffix to match the standard jingle in the chain's radio advertisements (Belleville, for instance, is +1-613-967-1111). Pizza Pizza has registered "967–1111" and variants as trademarks.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "“FIAT” ONLINE CONTEST RULES & REGULATIONS." Pizza Pizza. Retrieved on December 5, 2012. "Pizza Pizza, 500 Kipling Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M8Z 5E5"
  2. ↑ It's game on for Pizza Pizza expansion in Quebec market Archived 2014-08-09 at the Wayback Machine., Pizza Pizza press release, October 11, 2006
  3. ↑ Pizza Pizza press release, January 28, 2009
  4. ↑ "Pizza Pizza introduces dairy-free, vegan cheese chain-wide | Pizza Pizza". Pizzapizza.ca. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  5. ↑ "967–1111" is registered in Canada under registration number TMA428709.
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