'Enhanced Dine-in' concept helps Pizza Hut push sales

Casual dining chain Pizza Hut is planning to extend its ‘Enhanced Dine-in’ brand transformation concept to almost a third of its 147 stores across India by next month.

Last year, Pizza Hut had invested around Rs 50 crore to introduce the ‘Enhanced Dine-In’ concept, to keep pace with changing tastes.

It is part of a global re-imaging exercise, already implemented in countries like Hong Kong and the UK, and includes new menu, more varieties, better ambience and a fresh outlook for the outlets.

The pizza chain of Yum! Restaurants International (YRI), Pizza Hut contributes 70 per cent to the total revenue of its parent company in India.

Built along a creative concept in sync with the tag-line, ‘Stories Happen’, the new design elements of Pizza Hut include warmer lighting, earthy tones and mood graphics. The effort is aimed at enhancing and encouraging the dine-in experience, as opposed to takeaways and home delivery.

“The concept has been received well, as our sales have jumped 20 per cent in the restaurants,” Pizza Hut India’s Marketing Director Anup Jain told Business Standard.

He added the brand transformation involved an asset upgrading programme to modernise the look and feel of Pizza Hut stores, with an enhanced decor package. “Our service module has undergone a relevant change that includes new uniform and training for the service people,” he said.

The company, for instance, has introduced a ‘King Size Meal’ menu that offers savings up to 32 per cent on the dine-in bill and offers flexibility to exchange and upgrade one’s choices from a vast variety of options available at the restaurants.

“Almost 5 per cent of the sales come from this segment after we introduced the scheme and we expect it to grow to 11 per cent,” Jain said.

“The aim is to provide flexibility of menu at velocity price points and create more occasions for people to dine out, as we cannot gain by expanding the market alone,” said Jain, adding: “While it may cause pressure on our margins, we are hoping that consumers will reward us with higher frequency of dining at our restaurants.”