Pizza Hut, Pizza Creck, Domino’s and now… Pizzeria Spoleto. The franchise market will gain another pizzeria chain this year. With around 360 units and revenue of 778 million reais last year, the pasta chain Spoleto will give its name to Grupo Trigo’s new pizzeria brand.
The Brazilian pizzeria market has grown almost 500% in the last 10 years. According to a survey by the Associação Pizzarias Unidas do Brasil (Apubra), more than half of the units are in the state of São Paulo and the majority of units are owned by individual microentrepreneurs (MEI). In 2022, the market had more than 70 thousand pizzerias.
With the China In Box, Gendai, Spoleto, Koni and LeBonTon franchises, the Grupo Trigo ecosystem had revenues of R$2 billion in 2023, and already has 630 units in operation.
Between 2004 and 2018, Grupo Trigo controlled the operation of the American Domino’s in Brazil. The franchise holding company sold the operation to the investment fund Vinci Partners for around 300 million reais. Since then it has stopped operating in this market.
The idea of creating a brand from scratch combines its experience in the pizza market with the name of the pasta chain that dominates shopping center food courts. The idea is to take the “create your dish” model to the pizza market.
Franchise model
The first unit was opened this month in Copacabana, a neighborhood in the south of Rio. With an initial investment of 330 thousand reais, the plan is to reach 200 stores in five years. Despite carrying the name Spoleto, the director says that the pizzeria has its own strategic pillars.
Another new feature is the use of artificial intelligence. With an investment of over 1 million reais, the new Trigo Group brand was born with technological solutions to increase operational efficiency. A camera located on the ceiling of each store’s kitchen will capture images of all pizzas made for the delivery.
“The machine will learn the pattern of each flavor of the product, which will help identify possible operational gaps, enabling them to be corrected more quickly”, explains Luis Marcelo Correa, director of Technology and Growth at Grupo Trigo.
In the franchise market, other brands are drawing attention to the dish on the menu. The esfihas chain Habib’s, for example, changed the facade of a unit in São Paulo for three days to the so-called “Pizza Hab” and distributed free pizzas next to a competitor Pizza Hut operation. After the temporary action, Habib’s launched Pizza Hab on delivery apps.
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