| Type | Private, with publicly-traded royalty income fund |
|---|---|
| Traded as | TSX: PZA.UN |
| Industry | Fast food restaurants |
| Founded | 1967 |
| Founder(s) | Michael Overs |
| Headquarters | 500 Kipling Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Products | Pizza, Pasta, Wings, other fast food |
| Website | www.pizzapizza.ca |
Pizza Pizza (TSX: PZA.UN) is a Canadian franchise of pizza restaurants mainly located in the province of Ontario. Other locations operate in Quebec, Nova Scotia, in western Canada (mostly through Alberta-based subsidiary Pizza 73), and in non-traditional locations such as university campuses and movie theatres throughout Canada. It has over 500 locations, including over 150 non-traditional locations.
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The chain, founded and owned by Michael Overs, opened its first location on December 31, 1967, at the corner of Wellesley and Parliament Streets in Toronto. It expanded throughout the Toronto area in the 1970s, and throughout the rest of Ontario throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The chain opened in the Montreal area in late 2007 with locations in the Montreal boroughs of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Pierrefonds-Roxboro.
Pizza Pizza has recently begun to expand significantly outside Ontario. In its 2005 IPO 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.[1] The chain expanded to the British Columbia Lower Mainland in 2009[2] (Pizza 73 already had a location in Prince George in the B.C. Interior), and soon thereafter added locations in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Pizza Pizza opened its first store in Halifax, Nova Scotia in June 2010.
In 2005, the Pizza Pizza Royalty Income Fund (TSX: PZA.UN), an open-ended trust, completed its initial public offering. Pizza Pizza Limited, which remains privately held by Overs son-in-law Paul Goddard, pays the Fund 6% of the sales of its restaurants in Canada.
Major southern Ontario competitors include Pizza Hut, Domino's Pizza, Little Caesars, Gino's Pizza, 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 also recently entered the Ontario market. In Montreal, Quebec, its competitors are Mikes and Double Pizza.
Starting in 2009, Coca-Cola products replaced Pepsi products at Pizza Pizza.
Pizza Pizza currently uses the self-explanatory slogans "Hot & Fresh" and "Ontario's #1 Pizza!" However, perhaps better known still is the chain's Toronto phone number, (416) 967-1111, the last four digits pronounced "eleven-eleven" to rhyme with "seven". 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 grow and soon dominate the Ontario pizza market.
In other areas, the local number usually ends in the "11-11" pattern to match a standard jingle used in the chain's radio advertisements. Pizza Pizza has also registered "967-1111" and its variants as trademarks. "967-1111" is registered in Canada under registration number TMA428709.
Besides its memorable jingle, Pizza Pizza has laid claim [3] to being first - or among the first - to:
It has also recently secured product placement on the television series Degrassi: The Next Generation.
Outside of Ontario, Pizza Pizza has benefited from various pop-culture references. Toronto musicians Moxy Früvous mention it in their song "King of Spain". A chapter of Michael Moore's book Downsize This! advises illegal immigrants who want to sneak into Canada at Niagara Falls to memorize Pizza Pizza's Toronto number to appear Canadian. Moore cites Pizza Pizza as Canada's "national pizza chain" when at the time of publishing they did not have any locations outside of eastern Canada.
"Pizza! Pizza!" is also recognized, primarily in the United States, as the slogan for another pizza franchise, Little Caesars. The companies are not affiliated and in fact compete in many areas of Canada. Little Caesars has been prohibited from using it as a slogan in Canada, as part of Pizza Pizza's court defence of the trademark and the great possibility of confusion between the two firms. Pizza Pizza sold rights to the use of its "Pizza Pizza" radio jingle and slogan to Little Caesar's in 1979.
Pizza Pizza's canned Coca-Cola products have a Gold top instead of the more conventional Silver top. This is so that it is obvious whether or not Coca-Cola products being sold by Pizza Pizza franchisees have been purchased through the Pizza Pizza commisary or not, for control purposes.
A training centre for franchisees is located in south Etobicoke.
Michael Overs died on the morning of March 31, 2010. His son-in-law, Paul Goddard, was appointed CEO.