Pizza Hut carves a slice of home delivery market

Pizza Hut, a franchised restaurant chain managed by conglomerate Jardine Pacific, wants a bigger slice of Hong Kong's competitive food catering business by tapping the more lucrative delivery catering services.

Henry Yip Cheuk-tak, chief executive of Jardine Restaurant Group, said Pizza Hut had recently strengthened its delivery services by spending $15 million on setting up a call centre to shorten the ordering time for delivery and earmarking an annual budget of $20 million on marketing.

The move is aimed at boosting sales of the 63-strong restaurant chain, which had annual turnover of $800 million, according to Mr Yip.

Of the amount, 45 per cent, or $350 million, was derived from delivery. Dine-in services contributed the same proportion of turnover, at $350 million, and takeaway accounted for $100 million.

'Since we opened the call centre about three weeks ago, overall sales were 25 per cent higher year on year, and the transaction numbers jumped 20 per cent,' Mr Yip said. 'The response was ahead of our expectations.'

The popularity of delivery services mirror not only a more buoyant economy but also a shifting trend in consumers' dining habits and time management.

'Our services are particularly popular with couples or office workers who have such long working hours on weekdays that they don't have time to cook, or they are too tired to cook,' Mr Yip said.