The Pizza Hut Experience

Summary

This paper is a study of a restaurant in UK specifically Pizza Hut. The paper focuses on the restaurant’s customer service as applied on its operation. The paper aims to present the company’s operational procedure; how the restaurant deals with external and internal customers. The strengths and weaknesses of the company in terms of customer service are also discussed. At the end of the study, the company’s overall customer service is evaluated.

Introduction

Pizza Hut is a large chain of pizza restaurant originated from USA. Pizza Hut restaurant opened in the United Kingdom on 1973 at Islington, London, 15 years after the First Pizza Hut opened on 1958 at Kansas, USA by Frank and Dan Carney. Currently, Pizza Hut is the UK’s leading pizza restaurant and delivery chain with about 500 restaurants across UK. Pizza Hut in UK is owned and operated by Whitbread Plc and Yum International who also own KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut Worldwide and currently employs over 20,000 people in the UK.

Operation

As part of the food industry, Pizza Hut’s goal is to present its products when and where the customer wants , refining its products and develop new products to suit their customer’s tastes. With this goal, Pizza Hut gives emphasis on customer service. The company uses the term ‘customer mania’ to describe the importance that customer satisfaction impacts on the success of the company. Customer Mania is basically a program which is based on three principles: operational excellence, great marketing and real ‘sit up and take notice’ standards of customer service. The program aims to instil the basics of customer service to every team member of Pizza Hut. These basics include smiling and greeting the customer, presentation, good service and dealing with service problems themselves without looking for a manager.

Customer Mania emphasises four critical steps. The first step is to set sight on the right target by taking care of customers and creating a motivating environment for staff; the second is to treat customers the right way by determining the kind of experience Pizza Hut wants its customers to have as they interact with every part of the company; the third is to treat employees the right way by using strategies ranging from smart hiring, to training and development, to managing performance and creating a recognition culture; and the fourth is to build the right kind of leadership by letting staff decides and think with the support of the manager.

All over the world, Pizza Hut holds a quarterly customer mania mindset session for its team members who include all the crews, managers and Restaurant Support Centre Team to reiterate and motivate employees on the importance of providing consistent product quality, service, ambiance and value for money to the customers. In this session, recognitions are given to employees who are outstanding in their service to the customers.

Pizza Hut invests on skills, knowledge, training and development of employee for different positions. The company has program which includes annual performance appraisals designed to let Team members know exactly what the expectations are and what opportunities exist for improvement. Information and skills are well-communicated internally among employees; the company allows open communication all the way to the top.

At Pizza Hut, they treat each other as customers themselves so they exactly know what the customer wants and discuss them in every internal meeting wherein every idea of employee counts. Pizza Hut management gives importance to the ideas and opinions of the staff because they know that these staff are the front liners of the company who have direct contact with the external customers. Employees are provided by feedbacks regularly about their performance so they are aware if they did not meet the company’s standard at a certain period and if one does not meet his internal customers’ needs. The company also do not allow bureaucracy instead maintain its culture which is a recognition culture- motivating employees through recognition. Pizza Hut also created a coaching management system that is managers become restaurant coaches, teaching employees and providing them information rather than just giving commands to the staff thereby giving the staff chance for improvement. Internal competition was eliminated to promote commitment and creativity. Pizza Hut believes that its most valuable asset is its employees so Pizza Hut provides them the tools needed to elevate service to the customers.

According to Pizza Hut, the role of its marketing is to ensure that the needs of the customers are met; it is what makes the business makes money. The company invest resources for research on customers’ needs and analysing customers’ feedback about what people think about pizzas; what do they like or dislike about pizzas; and what do they want from pizzas. The feedbacks and research are the basis of the company for innovation and development of new products.

On 1995, Pizza Hut launches two customer satisfaction programs: the 1-800 Customer Satisfaction Hotline and the Customer Call-Back Program, which takes the pulse of 50,000 customers per week. A mystery shopping program gathers information every month on how each restaurant is performing against customer expectations. The results of this survey are fed back to the restaurant within five days of the visit.

Pizza Hut operations are based on what the company called CHAMPS which define the very core of customer expectations. Champ stands for Cleanliness, Hospitality, Accuracy, Maintenance, Product, and Speed. This system of measure has been the company’s tool to ensure consistency of service and product quality and is align with ‘customer mania’ program.

Generally, Pizza Hut operates in different concepts. The first is the Full Service Restaurants which offer a seated service and take-out. Home Service concept offers home delivery and take-out. There are specific menu to this concept and delivery if offered to customers living within the designated trade zones. The Restaurant Based Delivery concept offers dine-in, takeaway and delivery services to customers. The newest concept being developed by Pizza Hut is the Express: Eat-in and Takeaway. The concept is to establish Pizza Hut within food halls and leisure parks across the UK offering informal, quick services with a reduced menu. With these concepts, Pizza Hut basically operates in two units – dine and delivery. They can not be categorized as fast food because their service is not as speedy as McDonald’s. It is more of a casual dining but not as classy as fine-dining restaurants, with a better ambiance and atmosphere than fast-food restaurants.

Pizza Hut offers its customers variety of choices on its menu as a strategy of targeting a wider market segment, establishing itself as a family restaurant. With the concepts mentioned above, Pizza Hut categorized its menu as Dine-in Restaurant menu and Delivery menu. It also has Kids Menu which is menu for children with free toys at selected meal and Collection Menu which features selection of Pizza Hut’s brands of pizzas such as the Big New Yorker, Stuffed Crust Pizza and The Italian.

At Pizza Hut restaurants, they offer starters and side orders, pasta and salads, desserts, ice cream and pizza. It also serves drinks such as coffee, sodas, juices, tea and alcoholic beverages. Pizza Hut also comes up with the concept of the ice cream factory wherein for one payment, one can take as much ice cream as he wishes which appeals more to children. Some Pizza Hut in UK also features a salad bar and a buffet lunch that gives value to customer’s money.

As part of its customer service, most Pizza Hut restaurants provide facilities for people with disabilities. On its website, Pizza Hut provides a Disability Discrimination Act statement in compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. The statement stated that the company has improved its physical environment with more easily accessible facilities and has trained its employees to better understand and meet the needs of customers with disabilities.

In dealing with customers’ complaints, Pizza Hut provides telephone numbers customers can call to when they encountered problems regarding the services the company provided them. Feedback forms are provided at each table of Pizza Hut restaurants. The website of Pizza Hut also provides telephone numbers and address to be contacted with for customer complaints. As already mentioned, Pizza Hut’s Delivery guarantee offers compensation for failure to deliver products on time.

Once a customer complains about a product, the staff will try to rectify the situation by replacing the product if the order is wrong or the quality of pizza or any product is not satisfactory. However, if the customer is still unhappy, Pizza Hut will refund the customers money.

Strengths

The strength of Pizza Hut is primarily its products. It has range of products that gives choices to consumers. It is what the consumers really wanted, to have a variety of choices especially with its brands of pizza. It also offers healthy choices with its salad and its menu indicates which items are suitable for vegetarians. Pizza Hut continuously reviews their products so its menu change from time to time in an effort to meet evolving customers needs and taste preferences. The restaurant is also known for its innovation, differentiation and product creativity with its Italian- a thin crust pizza which has taken over 30% of mix sales and success both in dine-in and delivery units and the highly successful Stuffed Crust Pizza as an effort in providing customers value to their money.

The delivery guarantee concept is also classified as one of the strengths of the company with regards to customer service. The delivery guarantee concept ensures the Pizza Hut delivers products on the time promised and if it fails to deliver on time the customer will get his next pizza for free. Pizza Hut also shows they give importance to customers by providing compensations to complaints and letting them have their feedbacks about the company.

Pizza Hut has gained its name through heavy media and TV promotions which inform the customers of what Pizza Hut can provide them. Pizza hut makes sure that the customers are well-informed and aware on new products, offerings and services it provides.

Weaknesses

Based on experience, the primary weakness of Pizza Hut is its price. Pizza Hut has a higher price compared to other fast food restaurants like McDonald’s or the competitor pizza restaurant Domino’s. Because of higher price especially when dining-in which price includes tax and service charge, some people opted for the affordability of other fast-food restaurants. Pizza Hut is not restaurant to go to when tightening a budget.

Evaluation

Overall, Pizza Hut is a restaurant that provides good customer service and makes excellent customer service a strategy for a competitive edge. It measure customer satisfaction through questionnaires, focus groups, market research and complaints, making its customers involved in the design of new products and services. Pizza Hut based its services on the needs of both the internal and external customers. Pizza Hut’s success can be measured with the three intangible values which are to understand the customer’s business, the willingness to commit to solving customer’s problems, and the education needed to deal with customers properly.

Recommendation

Based on the weakness of Pizza Hut, it is recommended that the company should obtain more information about its competitors. It must identify who its major competitors are and the competitors’ objectives and strategy including their strengths and weaknesses. By studying the competitors’ moves, Pizza Hut can see beforehand external market threats for Pizza Hut. For example, if Domino’s or another pizza restaurant provides the customer something different other than those products Pizza Hut is offering and at lower prices compared to prices at Pizza Hut, or McDonald’s plan to add pizza on their menu, the consumer, following the typical consumer behaviour, will try the competitors’ products.

It is also recommended that Pizza Hut should continue producing innovative products to continue delighting the customers and it is what makes Pizza Hut different from the others. They may also create discount cards to loyal customers as a sign of appreciation thus giving these loyal customers reasons to come back to Pizza Hut.

Pizza Hut’s strategy of being customer-focused and service oriented has been so far the company’s competitive advantage in the food and beverage industry, providing its customers better dining experiences.

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