PizzaExpress Global Slice Q4 2022

About Chris Holmes

In the new role of Channel and International Director, Chris will have overall accountability for Delivery, Retail and International – leading both the equity and franchise businesses from the UK.

Chris has extensive commercial experience working with some incredible food and drink brands. As Commercial Director & Chief Development O cer at KFC, he led the launch of their loyalty app, the Colonel’s Club and worked with existing and new franchise partners to accelerate access to the brand across

both the UK and Western Europe. In his role as Managing Director at Ask Italian and during lockdown, Chris founded SMASH (Save Money And Stay Healthy), an early-stage mission-led app, built in partnership with Guys & St Thomas’ hospital charity, designed to inspire young people to make healthier choices across restaurants and supermarkets. Chris will remain a Non-Exec for the company.

Outside of work, Chris is very busy with newly born twins, a 6-year-old and a golden retriever.

Chris’ favourite pizza is La Reine, literally a royal masterpiece!

GLOBAL

HIGHLIGHTS

New look, PizzaExpress Live UK – Soho

The iconic UK ‘Live’ agship in Soho, London has been transformed into the cool, authentic pizza restaurant, bar and underground jazz club, that it rightfully should be!

New restaurant, PizzaExpress India – Pune City

The team in India have opened their latest new store in Pune, in the 8th largest economy in India, located about 150km from Mumbai at the upscale Balewadi work and retail complex, spread over 54,000 sq .

Hot o the press

Around the world, our markets have been incredibly busy designing amazing stores, which have opened in just the last few weeks. More details and great photographs to follow, but worth a mention are:

UAE – new Springs Souk

Hong Kong – new Pizzeria (smaller concept) in Fortress Hill (city location)

Hong Kong – new larger venue at the Science Park, Tai Po (reaching a new community)

Update on Brand Journey

A quick snapshot of the direction of our brand refresh …

• Looking for brand identi ers to achieve brand recognition globally

• Our distinctive ownable elements are logo, stripes and stunning restaurants

• Need to reset and unify our brand world, by identifying and leveraging our unique DNA

• Sprinting towards a new brand positioning, and refreshed look and feel for 2023

More brand news coming your way soon!

UK–Soho

India–PuneCity

03 MARKETS NATIONAL INTER-

A Celebration of Flavour this Autumn Siciliana Pizzas Hit Supermarkets

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The UK Autumn menu was a true celebration of pizza and epic avour! From reinventing old classics like Sloppy Giuseppe to introducing a showstopper special like the Paneer Tikka pizza, the menu was packed full of punch, energy and delicious avour combinations.

The team also launched two delivery exclusives – the Hawaiian Hot & Spicy Giuseppe, giving pineapple fans what they wanted whilst also bringing the heat with a twist on an old classic.

Here’s what the team in Manchester had to say about it.

And in Retail …

Piaggio on Tour

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Summer saw the Piaggio head on tour across the UK taking pizza to the people and sampling some of the best loved retail pizzas. Samples included the Classic Margherita, Classic American, Sweet & Smoky BBQ pizza Dipping Sauce and Garlic & Herb pizza Dipping Sauce, which have all gone down a treat.

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The retail world also saw the launch of the UK’s brand-new rosemary infused pizzas hit supermarket shelves in September.

Exclusively available in all Tesco stores nationwide and online, the new Siciliana range features three one-of-a-kind pizzas - Pesto Margherita, Ham, Garlic Mushroom and Mascarpone and Mozzarella, Nduja and Chilli.

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O cially our rst rectangular pizza in supermarkets, Siciliana Pizzas are perfect for friends and family sharing

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26 October – 7 December 2022 the Piaggio will be completing 28 days of sampling the Siciliana pizzas at Tesco supermarket stores. To date, more than 10,000 samples have been distributed

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As well as heading to a number of supermarkets to surprise and delight shoppers they also headed to larger sampling events such as the GroceryAid fundraiser at Barcode Festival.

Check out the video here.

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HONG KONG

Doppio Cheese Beer Combo

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Created a delicious cheesy deal, to suit male and female market, with a Double Cheese Chorizo Pizza, paired with 2 pints of Peroni

New Doppio pizza with extra cheesy crispy crust plus chorizo salami, Brussels sprout, mozzarella, cheddar cheese and yellow tomato sauce

Peroni sponsored production of a jointly branded tote

La Vita X Lung Kee

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An exclusive collaboration with Lung Kee Restaurant, famous in Hong Kong for its roast meat, and signi cantly, rst supplying PizzaExpress with its roast peking duck, back in 2001, for what became one of HK’s best-selling pizzas, the Peking

Hong Kong created an exclusive menu (available for 3 nights only, one venue only) pro ling the best of Italian cooking and HK-style siu-mei

Three invitation-only La Vita dining events took place for PE Club members on 14, 15 and 21 September, at the Wellington Street shop, providing

Eco friendly Coca-Cola

PizzaExpress became one of the rst restaurants in HK to stock Coca-Cola’s new-look returnable glass bottles, made with less glass, and once empty, collected by Coca-Cola for re- lling.

QR code on cap allows customers to win prizes, including PizzaExpress dining vouchers

UAE

New Menu

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PizzaExpress UAE has launched a new menu, now including the vegan collection, due to popular demand from customers

PizzaExpress UAE’s Great Place to Work rankings

for 2022

• 2nd Best Workplace in the UAE

• 4th Best Workplace in the Middle East

• 6th Best Workplace for Millennials

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The partnership with vegan/plant-based suppliers has expanded, including:

• Violife – cheese

• Impossible - plant-based meat alternative

• Brooklyn Creamery – vegan ice cream

• Jack&Bry – pepperoni jackfruit alternative

• Sambazon - organic/vegan acai

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The menu now also includes organic cage-free eggs

• 29th Best Workplace in Asia

PizzaExpress Cares

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Contributed to support Pakistan's devastating oods in collaboration with the Pakistan Association in Dubai

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The launch was supported by PR, in uencer activities, radio campaign and a collaboration with Lovin’ Dubai for an Instagram takeover

CYPRUS

Luccio Savva Live Performance

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Lucio Savva performs every Friday & Saturday night at PizzaExpress in Limassol, to give customers a better experience through live entertainment

Free Delivery

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Free delivery promotion via BoltFood through PizzaExpress Limassol for one week, to drive delivery sales

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Results show that the ''free delivery'' promotion placed the store listing high on the app, resulting in a 20% increase during that week

KUWAIT

Pizza Around the World – Breaking News

• The Kuwait team has launched six global avoured pizzas, inspired by di erent regions around the world

• The pizzas were all nominated to compete in our internal MasterChef Pizzaiolo annual competition

• The Cilantro Chicken Pizza was crowned the Grand Winner of the Year 2022

• Support for the LTO has included all digital platforms, including a TikTok in uencer collaboration, magazine articles, mall branding, OOH digital screens, LSM, PR & in uencer activations and exposure on AURA Loyalty Programme and brand website

• Watch the Pizza Around the World story here

INDIA

Pune New Store

• PizzaExpress India is opening its rst store in Pune City in Balewadi High Street

• Primary objective – owning the catchment - targeting customers who come to Balewadi High Street to hangout, eat and chill

Dine-in Combos

• Month of August has several occasions including Independence Day, Rakshabandhan, Janmanshtami, Friendship Day etc and a long weekend

• Need to create excitement and buzz around the brand

• Launch new Combos for 2 and 4 people in dine-in, to increase frequency of existing customers and o er signature products as part of the meal

• Create a value proposition for guests by o ering a complete meal/product experience with the brand specialty/core products

• Results: 13% contribution to overall dine-in mix

GIBRALTAR

New Vegan Options

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Launched on July 10, the new vegan options have contributed to sales and increased interest from the local market in Gibraltar

Annual Charity Cardboard Boat Race

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Held on 3 September at Ocean Village, the day raised over £4,697 for charity, with increased sales at PizzaExpress

Oktoberfest Ocean Village

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Joining the Oktoberfest celebration, drove increased sales, over the two-day period.

INDONESIA

BCA Bank – Special Price

• One of the biggest and most impactful initiatives for Q3 2022 was a collaboration with BCA Bank (the biggest and most in uential bank in Indonesia)

• O ering special price on classic pizzas

• Resulting in over 4,500 transactions and contributing 7% towards dine in sales

• Programme runs 26 August through to 30 November

Buy 1 Get 1 – for Delivery

• Due to the increasing dine in trend toward the second half of 2022, there is an opportunity to leverage on the delivery platforms

• Commencing July 2022 launched a ‘Buy 1 Get 1’ Classic on delivery platforms including GoFood, Grab Food, Shopee Food and Traveloka Food

MACAU

Doppio Cheese

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The new Cheesy Chorizo pizza, with extra cheesy crust, was launched on 8 September, contributing almost 3% to total sales

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Summer Drinks

Four new Summer drinks were introduced on 1 August; Peach Iced Tea, Strawberry Ice Tea, Rainbow Lemonade and Salty Lychee Splash

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Rainbow Lemonade is the biggest seller and verbal feedback from guests has been positive

PHILIPPINES

Sweet Meets Salty - New Burrata Desserts

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The Philippines team have experimented with sweet and salty avours in three new desserts, featuring a staple of Italian cuisine; Burrata cheese, more commonly used in salads and on pizzas, but now available as a sweet treat

• The Honey Meringue is simple but satisfying with local Palawan honey and meringue topped with crushed candied walnuts

•The Blueberry Balsamic adds a zing; burrata with a blueberry compote, sliced strawberries, and orange balsamic that’s then topped with crushed candied walnuts

•The Poached Pear is fresh yet delectable with red wine poached pear, pistachio nuts, and meringue, sprinkled with orange zest and topped with a cinnamon stick

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Feedback was positive overall for all the avors but the Blueberry Balsamic stands out the most because of its Instagrammable plating and most guests would not expect these ingredients to be complimentary

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The 3 new desserts have contributed 35% to the Dessert Category

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Jane Treasure joined PizzaExpress UK in October 2017, on a six-month contract to work on a food development project called ‘Piattini’ which tested a new range of small plates. While the Piattini menu didn’t launch, Jane did fall in love with our beloved PizzaExpress and ve years on, is now full-time F&B Director, responsible for identifying food trends, anticipating the next culinary waves, and re-interpreting these for our customers. In a nutshell, Jane’s air for creativity is helping to keep PizzaExpress at the cutting edge of food fashion.

In the nal part of our ‘Chef’s Table’ back page interviews, Jane gives us a snapshot of her journey at PizzaExpress and a window into some of the trends we can expect to see going forward into 2023 and beyond.

What are your rst memories of PizzaExpress?

As a child I always looked forward to PizzaExpress dough balls on shopping trips with my grandmother.

Many dough balls later, upon joining the PizzaExpress family, I vividly remember meeting Antenor in the Leicester Square basement kitchen. We’ve come a long way since then and now work out of our beautiful Innovation Kitchen in Charlotte Mews in Central London.

Jane04 Treasure

Chef’s Table with

Food & Beverage Director, UK

What food trends are you seeing, in the UK and globally, for 2023?

We are seeing some interesting key trends in the UK including:

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The Green Life – customers are actively looking for restaurants with strong sustainability initiatives.

Three-quarters of consumers are actively cutting down their food waste.

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Social media continues to play an important role in people’s lives.  Over 75% of 18-24 year olds look to TikTok and Instagram for food inspiration ‘Ownable’ – customers want something unique - 37% of people choose the ‘unique to the venue’ cocktail if available, ‘every time’ or ‘almost all the time’ Make me stronger – customers are looking for products with unique health bene ts

What is your all-time favourite ingredient and why?

Garlic!  Everything tastes better with garlic.  I also love our passata, it’s so versatile.

What is the most popular pizza or dish you’ve created for PE?

There’s been a few, but one I have real a ection for is BBQ

they wanted and we delivered.

Where do you draw your inspiration?

Everywhere, I am lucky I live in a part of London with loads of new restaurants and pop ups.  If you’re ever in South East London let me know!

What is your favourite PE pizza, and why?

I love Pollo Ad Astra, and have a so spot for Funghi Di Bosco too!  Maybe that’s why I love our new DUO Romana Pizza so I can have both.

A er all this culinary wizardry, what is your favourite distraction, or hobby? Cycling, I cycle everywhere!

Surprise us! Tell us one thing about you that we probably don’t know?

I speak a reasonable amount of Indonesian.  I travelled overland from Sumatra to West Papua when I was younger –‘tidak ada gula’ was especially useful when ordering co ee!

I’m sure our colleagues in Indonesia will be looking forward to chatting with you soon Jane! Thanks so much for your time, your inspiration and your never-ending energy to bring us dishes that delight on every level.

GREEN05 BITES

Source for good

Sourcing quality, consistent ingredients can o en be a challenge for international franchise businesses. But even just a few small changes can have big impact, not just on the environment but on our communities too.

Here are three small bites that could reap big rewards.

• Source locally. If possible. Recent issues with food security have encouraged many of us to identify closer, more reliable sources for key fresh ingredients. For example, salads are much fresher, and o en tastier, when local. Look out for new hydroponically-grown options too.

• Check out the farms. For example, in the UK mozzarella cheese is made from milk produced in farmer-owned cooperatives. This ensures better prices for farmers, and better conditions for cows, too.

• Support community. For the festive season, the Hong Kong team is working with a local social enterprise bakery to produce the gingerbread man embellishment on the Festive Pavlova. This is providing training, employment and funds for an NGO supporting adults with learning challenges.

Food tastes even better when there’s a good story behind it!