A new pizza is about to hit the Cyprus market, triggering off yet another sector skirmish in the various ongoing trade wars on the island.
Mama’s Pizza is expected to hit the markets next Wednesday as a new product in the ‘traditional’ type of locally-developed pizzas, while its developer, PHC Restaurants, remains the dominant force in the ‘pan’ category with its Pizza Hut global leader.
Market watchers suggest that this pizza newcomer is here to prevent other franchises, primarily from Greece, from entering the Cyprus market and grabbing a slice of the already saturated sector.
Rumours initially suggested that Mama’s, promoted on billboards as “Mmmm, a new pizza at last!”, was a brand introduced by Zorpas, the aggressivly expanding bakery and convenience store group that has been desperate to break into the ready-meal business.
Zorpas is already creating many enemies with its harsh marketing tactics that has seen a bakery opening next to or very near any existing successful competitor.
Some of the Zorpas outlets also have pizza ovens, while the group has successfully entered the catering business.
WARS LOOM AHEAD
The pizza war is just another retail sector clash where supermarkets are bracing for their biggest battle ever as Carrefour-Marinopoulos, that took over the Chris Cash and Carry chain, has entered a priviliged partnership agreement with the Shacolas-controlled Ermes group.
This was in anticipation of the arrival of budget stores Lidl and local outlets Migro and Smart that are expected to pull the carpet from under the supermarket ‘big boys’ Orphanides, Alpha Mega, Papantoniou and Metro.
Then there is the franchise wars, with the recent addition of the Costa Coffee outlet in the heart of Nicosia, reportedly slashing the nearby Starbucks’ takings by half on Christmas Day, while chain restaurants are feeling the economic pinch and clothing franchises are changing hands by the day, or simply mushrooming and shutting down on a weekly basis.
TRADITIONAL PIZZA
The new pizza will be served from the existing network of 27 Pizza Hut outlets, only as a take-away or delivery product, priced in the same range as its main competitors Toronto in Nicosia and Pizza Mia in Limassol.
Mama’s will challenge Toronto, the second largest pizza chain in Cyprus, with 12 outlets in Nicosia and Larnaca, for the silver medal on the podium.
But Toronto is not expected to stand by and watch a newcomer grab the market it has built up since 1986, and duly copied by other pizza chains.
“Any competition is welcome, but they must not forget that the secret lies in a good product combined with good management,” said Costas Kouroufexis, founder of the Toronto chain who started with Quo Vadis Pizza with an Italian partner in Canada in 1971.
“When Pizza Hut started in Cyprus, we had three outlets and we were told to brace for closure. We have since expanded to 12 outlets, including Larnaca,” he added.
“However, we also saw Domino’s come to Cyprus, which reached eight stores but then closed overnight. I think you’d have to blame the philosophy of how to do business and not the product, which was good,” he admitted.
Kouroufexis has further expansion in mind this year to mark the company’s 20th anniversary of operations in Cyprus.
Market watchers believe that the main blow in the ‘traditional’ pizza category will be dealt in Nicosia to Ottima, that recently changed hands and was renamed Canadian, and Alfa Pizza, while Limassol’s Number Two, American, only recently opened a third outlet in Ayia Phyla.
