Crazy Piramid Pizza eyes Slovakia - an interview with Wojciech Godunski, the owner of Crazy Piramid Pizza and Biesiadowo restaurant chains

2012-01-13



Central Europe Retail Update talks to Wojciech Godunski, owner of Crazy Piramid Pizza and Biesiadowo restaurant chains, about foreign expansion


Paulina Walewska, Central Europe Retail Update: Was 2011 a good year for fast-food restaurants? What is the current situation on the Polish pizza restaurants market, in your view? Does it still offer growth potential? Or was it the lack of such potential that precipitated your decision to expand abroad?

Wojciech Godunski: The year 2011 was not bad for fast food restaurants. Despite the constant flow of news about the crisis, the fast food market is doing well. Poles have truly fallen in love with pizza; and so have the Irish, as illustrated by the success of the Crazy Piramid Pizza (CPP) restaurant in that country, our first in a foreign market. Although the Polish pizza restaurants market is already fairly saturated, there is still room for really good pizza offerings. Therefore we keep opening new restaurants in Poland, both CPPs and under the brand name Biesiadowo, our second chain. The Polish market still has potential, but we want to expand further, hence the decision to enter foreign markets. Our first step in that direction came last year with the opening of a Crazy Piramid Pizza restaurant in Ireland under the master franchise model.

How advanced are your preparations to enter Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Russia and Ukraine with Crazy Piramid Pizza restaurants? Which country will you enter first?

At present talks are in progress with potential master franchisees in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Russia, and Ukraine. In each of these countries the negotiations are at a different stage, but the situation can change anytime. So it is difficult to tell at this point which market we will enter first, or to give exact dates. However, the moment any of these agreements is finalised, we will inform about it immediately on our website.

Why have you selected these particular countries as places to expand?

On the basis of in-depth research and analysis carried out by our business development department, we decided to focus our expansion efforts on neighbouring countries, though other markets in Europe are also on our radar. Why neighbouring countries? The reason is very simple: logistics. We are passionate about quality and consistency in taste from restaurant to restaurant. To ensure this, we have our own wholesaling operation that delivers raw materials for pizza making to all our restaurants. From the point of view of logistics processes, it is easier and cheaper to supply raw materials to neighbouring countries than to those farther afield. But we are also perfectly able to deliver to more distant markets, such as Ireland.

Will your foreign expansion be based on organic growth, or the franchise model? If you intend to use the latter, what are the requirements for franchisees?

Our growth abroad will be based on the master franchise model. The master franchisee for a given country will receive full support, know-how and free training from us, and will operate much like we do on our home market, looking for franchisees and developing the network. To become the master franchisee for the Crazy Piramid Pizza chain, a company should be prepared to invest about €50,000 in initial costs (including the cost of opening the first restaurant and creating a logistics system), though €12,000 should be sufficient in the early phase to open the first restaurant. The suitable candidate should also have a location for the restaurant of minimally 70m². But the key requirement is enterprise and a willingness to contribute to the development of our network.

Do you already know what kind of locations you will have in these countries? Will they be free-standing buildings or e.g. mall restaurants?

I will answer this question only after we have signed the agreements.

And finally, I would like to ask about further expansion of your chain in Poland. Do you have plans to enter new voivodships?

At the moment our trademark horn-shaped pizza is served at 17 restaurants in Poland. Obviously we want to grow our Polish network further and are actively looking for franchisees to join the Crazy Piramid Pizza chain. We receive queries from various voivodships, so hopefully our horn-shaped pizza will soon be known in all parts of the country.