RIYADH: Pizza Inn, in defiance of the global recession and gloomy financial forecasts, has unveiled ambitious plans to open several new restaurants in the Kingdom as well as in the Middle East & North Africa and Asia regions. The announcement was made by Charlie Morrison, president and CEO of the US-based Pizza Inn here yesterday.
Morrison announced the scheduled opening of some nine Pizza Inn restaurants including four in the Western Province of Saudi Arabia. The restaurants will offer traditional delivery, dine-in and carry out services. The Riyadh-based United Food Company (UFC), a master licensor of the Pizza Inn brand for MENA & Asia regions, is working on the new projects with the Pizza Inn. UFC is a division of the A. Abunayyan Group of Riyadh and master licensor for Pizza Inn franchise in MENA and Asia region. The press briefing of Morrison was also attended by Madison Jobe, Pizza Inn vice president, who is accompanying Morrison on his trip to Gulf. Khusro Mistry, chief of Pizza Inn operations in MENA and Asia region, and Raj Shah, director of marketing were also present. Morrison and Jobe are visiting Saudi Arabia on the occasion of the 50th anniversary celebration of Pizza Inn, which opened its first outlet in 1958 in the US city of Dallas.
Referring to the growing popularity of Pizza Inn, Morrison said: “The buoyant economic growth of the region has led to consistent spending on food and beverages and presents an excellent opportunity to expand.” Asked about plans for the Gulf states, Morrison said that Pizza Inn had ambitious expansion plans in the Gulf. “We have several new outlets scheduled to open in the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman within a few months,” he said. He said: “We are achieving our goal of taking the brand to new heights throughout the Gulf region as we plan on opening several locations this year and next year.” In reply to a question about the reduction of franchisee fees during this period of recession, he said, “Pizza Inn is always looking for customer-oriented, quality-focused franchisees to continue the Pizza Inn legacy. There is no better time to join us than right now while we are prepared to ease start-up costs for new franchise locations,” he added.
“We have two restaurants in China, one in Romania, and we have signed an agreement for Bangladesh, where a Pizza Inn outlet will be opened very shortly,” said Morrison. He pointed out that plans were being made to open outlets in India. Pizza Inn was recently acknowledged for its success as “2008’s Pizza Chain of the Year by Pizza Marketplace.”
