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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

During the past four decades Pizza Hut has built a reputation for excellence
that has earned the respect of consumers and industry experts alike.
Building a leading pizza company has required relentless innovation,
commitment to quality and dedication to customer service and value. The
qualities of entrepreneurship, growth and leadership have characterized
Pizza Hut’s business through more than four decades of success. Through
the strength of its heritage, its culture and its people and franchisees, Pizza
Hut looks forward to more success in future.

There are different objectives of every organization. In order to achieve

these objectives different targets are set. Targets pass down the hierarchy
depending on the nature of the business. Therefore, in order to achieve the
objectives, management decides on different strategies. These strategies
are divided into many sub-parts and are useful for the running of the
Business. The employees and the management know what they have to
achieve through the targets which have been set to them and the strategies
they have adopted help them know the way they will achieve the objectives.
Similarly, Pizza Hut has different targets set to them and they have adopted
different strategies to successfully achieve the targets set. These targets fall
within the organizational structure in which there are many people who have
different targets to achieve. In order to successfully achieve the targets they
need to co-operate and work in a friendly environment.
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Introduction

Pizza Hut was founded in 1958 by Dan and Frank Carney. It is an American
restaurant chain and international franchise based in Addison, Texas,
offering different styles of pizza along with side dishes including pasta,
buffalo wings, breadsticks, and garlic bread. Pizza Hut is one of the flagship
brands of Yum! Brands, Inc., which also has KFC, Taco Bell, A&W and Long
John Silver’s under its umbrella. Pizza Hut is the world’s largest casual dining
restaurant chain with over 12,500 restaurants across 91 countries including
India.

Pizza Hut played a major role in turning pizza from an Italian specialty into a
mass-market, mainstream food. Pizza Hut had developed a reputation for
and commitment to product quality that was deeply engraved into the
restaurant managers, and with it, great pride in the brand. By the mid
1990s, Pizza Hut had become a powerful brand, with some 8,000 U.S.-based
restaurants, 140,000 employees and over $5 billion dollars in system-wide
sales. An internal Pizza Hut market researcher estimated that over 90
percent of American pizza eaters had tried a Pizza Hut pizza.

The following chronology explains the growth of Pizza hut as a leading food
chain.

· 1958 Frank and Dan Carney open the first Pizza Hut in Wichita, Kansas.
· 1972 1000 restaurants are open throughout the USA.
· 1973 Pizza Hut went international with restaurants in Japan, Canada &
England.
The first UK Pizza Hut opened in Islington, London.
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· 1977 PepsiCo bought Pizza Hut.

· 1980 Pan Pizza was introduced.
· 1982 The UK joint venture started between PepsiCo and Whitbread.
· 1984 Over 50 restaurants so far in the UK.
· 1986 By now, there were 100 restaurants in the UK and 5000 worldwide.
· 1987 An average of one restaurant opened each week in the UK.
· 1988 The UK's First Delivery Unit was opened in Kingsbury, London.
· 1992 There were 9,000 restaurants in 84 countries.
· 1993 There were 300 restaurants and delivery stores in the UK.
· 1994 10,000 Pizza Huts were open for business.
· 1997 PepsiCo decided to focus on their drinks business. As a result, Tricon
Global Restaurants was born, creating the largest restaurant brand in
World. Tricon became the partner company with Whitbread.
· 1999 Pizza Hut had over 400 restaurants, employing 14000 people.
· 2002 Tricon Global became YUM! Brands Inc.
· 2006 Whitbread sold their share of the joint venture to Yum! Brands Inc.
Pizza Hut UK Ltd was now 100% owned by Yum!
· 2008 bought Godfather's Pizza in Ireland with 28 stores.

Pizza Hut in India

Pizza Hut is the market leader in casual dining restaurants in India with 147
stores across 34 cities in India. Pizza Hut made its grand launch in India with
a dine-in restaurant in Bangalore in June 1996 and was the first international
restaurant chain to enter this category and can be credited with pioneering
the pizza market in India. After launching its first restaurant in Bangalore
that offered special vegetarian pizzas, Pizza Hut later opened its first all-
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vegetarian location in the city of Ahmedabad. After that it has been no

looking back for Pizza Hut with introducing more and more restaurants all
across India. It’s largest restaurant in Asia is located in Kolkata (Camac
street).

It is diversity that has made the history of Pizza Hut such a success. Its
menus and recipes across the various branches worldwide are not the same.
Different locations use different suppliers and different toppings, varying as
per the demand of the customers. The building block of the history of pizza
hut has been this diversity.

This same strategy was applied in its operations in India also. Indians prefer
spice in their food and having very peculiar eating habits. In Pizza Hut in
India, in addition to the traditional toppings, Indian foods are incorporated
such as chicken tikka, keema, lamb korma, and paneer, among others. Beef
toppings are not sold as the cow is considered as a sacred animal among the
Hindu majority. Indian Pizza Huts are typically sit-down restaurants with
waiters, and menu options include non-pizza items such as beer, pasta,
salad, and desserts.

According to the Economic Times - Brand Equity, Pizza Hut is ranked 2nd
most trusted brand in the year 2007. Its great tasting pizzas and trademark
dining experience have made it possible for the company to record a double-
digit growth and expand its presence to its current size. Pizza Hut captures a
27 per cent market share of the eating-out market in India and with over
70,000 footfalls per day across the country, it claims to provide diners with
the ideal place to build memories and relationships over delicious food.
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Pizza Hut's Mission Statement

Pizza hut takes pride in making a perfect pizza and providing courteous and
helpful service on time all the time. Every customer says, "I'll be back!"

• P.E.A.R.L.S
• PASSION for excellence in Doing everything
• EXECUTE with positive energy and urgency.
• ACCOUNTABLE for growth in customer satisfaction and
Profitability
• RECOGNIZE the achievement of others and have fun doing it.
• LISTEN and more importantly, respond to the voice of the
Customer.

The significance of customer satisfaction for business success

The pizza market has grown into a Rs 150-crore business and has seen so
many new players coming in the last few years. In spite of being the leading
pizza restaurant in India, Pizza Hut still faces competition from other pizza
joints like Domino’s, Papa Johns and Smoking Joes. In a fast paced and
competitive environment where customers have become more aware of the
choices available to them it is difficult to be the market leader and have a
satisfied customer base. Consumers expect better service and value for
money when they are looking for a dining experience or even when they are
just spending their money on a pizza delivered on their door step.
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It is very frequently stated by management and marketing theorists that

customer service quality is essential to business success. Firms that provide
a greater quality of service as measured by customer satisfaction surveys
also experience higher economic returns than competitors that do not pay
enough attention to customer service. Satisfied customers form the central
part of the long-term success of business, and the linkage between customer
satisfaction and customer behavior has been researched about and
emphasized by marketing gurus of the like of Philip Kotler.

A highly satisfied customer will be loyal to the brand and this will in turn lead
increased repeat business and greater revenue. It is not possible to increase
business prosperity without increasing customer satisfaction. Satisfied
customers will return and keep the business going. It is not the amount of
goods and services a company can produce that leads to its success as much
as how well it satisfies its customers so they will return and keep the
business growing.

Satisfied customers are essential to the long-term success of internationally

franchised fast food establishments. As satisfied loyal customers, their
continued patronage is assured on a global basis. On the other hand, those
who become dissatisfied customers of these same franchises may not only
go elsewhere, they will most likely play an active role in persuading others
to go elsewhere, as well. If fast food franchises are to be effective, they will
need to deliver consistent, timely, quality meals and services to satisfied
customers across cultures and national boundaries.
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Need for the study

Pizza Hut is one of the leading players in the fast growing and highly
competitive fast food industry. Researching and analyzing the customer
satisfaction is a very vital aspect of their business strategy and long term
success.

Knowing what you like to drink and eat is a fairly basic human instinct.
Similarly, people rarely lack an opinion about what they like, or dislike,
about the places they go to satisfy their hunger and thirst – that is, the
service they get when they are there. Increasing number of people,
worldwide, are customers of the fast-food industry, which makes it all the
more important for those who run such businesses to get to know their
opinions and to adopt workable practices of measuring and improving the
service they are offering. It is also in their interests to do it quickly. Fast-
food businesses need fast-reaction solutions to consumer requirements if
they are to flourish.

If the company is unable to do this, there are plenty of other similar outlets
to go to – and word spreads; if customers don’t like the service at one chain
the chances are that they will not only take their custom elsewhere but also
tell their friends and colleagues.

The customer satisfaction surveys can help managers to assess the service
quality of their own establishments in a timely and useful manner. Following
periodic and repetitive sampling of customers' assessments of service
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quality, managers can apply statistical process control and six sigma
techniques to improve quality. In addition, application of such measures at
each outlet can help managers to gain insight about the relative service and
product quality of each specific restaurant they manage. This discovery of
potential strengths and weaknesses at particular locations would present an
opportunity to copy identified best practice elsewhere.

Objectives of the report

• To study the customer preferences, taste and behavior in the
fast food market.
• To become aware of the customer expectations from Pizza Hut.
• To critically analyze factors like taste, quality of food, ambience,
delivery time, attitude of the staff working at Pizza Hut.
• To know how the customers rate the factors like hygiene and
cleanliness in the restaurant.
• To analyse the impact of customer satisfaction on the long-term
profitability of the business.

This report analyses the customer satisfaction of Pizza Hut, in Aundh area of
Pune City between the age group of 20 to 25 years. The study is based on
the findings from a customer satisfaction questionnaire filled out by 30
people in the age group of 20 to 25 years.

1. How often do you visit pizza hut?

Aundh is a predominantly a residential area with a lot of working as well as

college students between the age of 20 to 25 years residing there. It also
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has a lot of families apart from this segment of the population. With the
presence of quite a few IT companies in close vicinity and thereby working
executives along with the student population there is a culture of eating out
and ordering food from outside. The following figure 3.1 gives an idea about
how often people in Aundh visit pizza hut.

Figure 3. 1

From the above data, we interpret that 6.66 per cent of the respondents
surveyed visit pizza hut almost daily. 20.34 percent visit the place a weekly.
37 per cent people visit pizza hut once in a month and 36 per cent of the
people had visited pizza hut for the first time. This reflects that a good
number of people do visit pizza hut more or less regularly, giving it a
potential to expand and make profit in the Aundh locality.

2. Preferences of people in terms of going out or ordering in

It is first required to know what per cent of the customer base prefer to eat
in the restaurant and how many prefer to just get it delivered in the comfort
of their homes. Though Pizza Hut mainly focuses on maintaining its image as
leading casual dining restaurant with constantly repositioning itself in the
market, it also earns a significant portion of its revenue from Home Delivery.
Further, one must not forget that home delivery also involves a degree of
customer service.

As per the survey, 66.67 per cent of the women folk prefer to dine-in the
restaurant where as 60 per cent of men prefer the same. On the other side
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about 40 per cent of men prefer to get a home delivery and the figure incase
of women is approximately 33 per cent. Thus on an average about 63 per
cent of the sample prefer to dine-in the restaurant and 37 per cent prefer a
home delivery. This reiterates the fact that Pizza Hut is preferred for a sit
down restaurant dining. This could be for numerous factors which we will see
further in the report. Another observation here is that women prefer dining
in the restaurant over home delivery.

Once the behavior pattern of the people is assessed, we need to assess the
experience, people had on visiting the restaurant. Customer satisfaction
happens to be an important milestone, for each an every entity. So I decided
to gather information on some surveys done on customer experience at
pizza hut, Aundh.

3. Was the restaurant clean?

Customers are getting more particular about cleanliness and hygiene these
days. The restaurant will have to make sure that plates, cutlery, pans, floor,
dustbins, premises have to be kept clean. No customer would like to visit a
restaurant that has unclean tables, dirty menus or stained cutlery.
Cleanliness plays an important role in maintaining the ambience of the place.

As per the survey conducted there were only a few customers who praised
the cleanliness and hygiene the restaurant. 28% customers felt that the
place was dirty. 37% customers felt that cleanliness was about average.
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23% felt that the place was clean.10% felt that the restaurant was very
clean and 2 % of the respondents were in praise of the cleanliness at the
restaurant.
Thus we can make out that most of the customers were not happy with the
cleanliness and hygiene level at the restaurant. This can affect the business
as people won’t prefer to visit the restaurant again. People these days want
value for the money they pay. Hence Pizza hut should make sure that the
restaurant and its premises are kept clean for it to survive in the market.

4. Was the service hospitable and friendly?

Hospitality refers to the relationship process between a guest and a host. A

customer is guest and the restaurant is the host. The people at the
restaurant have to make sure that the customers are comfortable and are
having a great time. They need to be polite, courteous, friendly, and soft
spoken.

As per the survey conducted major part of the respondents gave a good
feedback .They were pleased with the service that they were provided at the
restaurant.36% of the respondents found the hospitality very good, about
33.33% found the service good.10% found the hospitality very good. 14%
found it average and 6.67% found were disappointed with the hospitality
provided. Thus if the restaurant concentrates more on hospitality, they may
become a leading player in the Aundh locality.

5. Did you receive what you ordered?

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It is very important that the customers get what they need. Their orders
need to be interpreted correctly and served accordingly. Customers won’t
like to pay for something which they never demanded.

A survey was also conducted for the same.87% of the respondents found
received what they ordered and 13% didn’t receive what they ordered.
However the no window of error can be allowed here. All the customers
should be served strictly as per the order placed by them. This is very much
necessary to keep intact the reputation of the group.

6. Was the food of your liking?

It is important that people like what you sell. Consumers who have a limited
budget and time constraint want to spend their money on something that is
quick and tasty, which is what has given rise to the fast food culture. If the
restaurant can win its consumers on the basis of taste then it has an added
advantage. This means that if the consumer is highly satisfied with the taste
then he might ignore some other factors like price or customer service to
some extent.

As per the graph above, 0 per cent of respondents rate the taste/liking of
the food at Pizza Hut as poor, 33.33 per cent of people find the taste/liking
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average, 33.33 per cent customers rate it as good, 20 per cent of customers
rate it as very good and 13.33 per cent rate their liking as excellent. Thus
people like what pizza hut offers and none of the respondents of survey has
shown dislike towards its product. This gives pizza hut an edge as their
pizzas are priced higher than that of their competitors. People might still go
for pizza hut’s pizza despite of their cost, due to the taste and liking of its
product.

7. Was the food served speedily?

“Time is money”, it’s an old cliché that we all know and understand, but to
what extent we really apply it in our business. Today people don’t have time.
They have crunched schedules. People expect the restaurant to value their
time. They want the food to be served quickly. If this doesn’t happen,
customers might get irritated and might opt for some other outlet next time.

These days Pizzerias often incorporate a time guarantee or a promise

delivery within a predetermined period of time, perhaps specifying that late
deliveries will be free of charge.

It can be interpreted from the above graph that 20 per cent respondents
have had a bad experience of never receive their order on time, 26.67 per
cent of respondents of the survey receive their order on time most of the
times and a mere 13.33 per cent of the customers always receive their order
on time. Thus it is quite clear from the findings that a majority of people say
that they receive their food on time only sometimes and an average of 23.33
per cent of people receive their food on time most of times. This makes it
quiet clear for the outlet that they need to work on timely delivery of the
orders. They will have to have assess the reason leading to the delay, it
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might be short man power, lack of knowledge regarding the process or the
slow system etc.

8. What do you like most about the place?

Pizza Hut has an appealing ambience which is one of the reasons why people
enjoy dining at Pizza Hut. Unlike a few of its competitors its interiors are well
designed and maintained, with a children’s play area, wash rooms and a
waiting area for when the restaurant is very busy. Even the posters, wall
hanging, the colour combinations used are quite attracting and appealing.
The pricing suits most middle class customers with a lot of discounts and
offers changing from time to time. The menu is also designed keeping in
mind the values and taste of the Indian consumers and it offers a lot of
Indian specialty toppings.

It can be interpreted from the graph that and 60 per cent of the customers
like the ambience of Pizza Hut more than other things, 40 percent of
respondents like the quality of food the most, around 46 per cent of the total
respondents like the variety of food, 33.33 per cent of the respondents like
the taste the most, 20 per cent of people like the service the most and only
6.67 per cent think that pricing is what they like most about Pizza Hut.
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9. Did you feel that you got value for your money?

Value of a product means the relationship between the consumer's

expectations of product quality to the actual amount paid for it. There are
parallels between cultural expectations and consumer expectations. Thus
pizza in Japan might be topped with tuna rather than onions and paneer, as
pizza might be in India. For a firm to deliver value to its customers, they
must consider what is known as the "total market offering." This includes the
reputation of the organization, staff representation, product benefits, and
technological characteristics as compared to competitors' market offerings
and prices. Value can thus be defined as the relationship of a firm's market
offerings to those of its competitors. Value can be defined by both qualitative
and quantitative measures. On the qualitative side, value is the perceived
gain composed of individual's emotional, mental and physical condition plus
various social, economic, cultural and environmental factors. On the
quantitative side, value is the actual gain measured in terms of financial
numbers, percentages, quantity etc.

As per the graph above 13.33 per cent of customers felt that pizza hut is not
worth of what you pay. But seems to be a very nominal number as majority
of the people were highly satisfied with what they got for what they
paid.46.67% felt that the pizza hut is worth and 40.00% felt that it is too
good.

10. Will you visit Pizza Hut again in the near future?
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Customer retention is very important for any business entity. This is

important for expansion and growth as it leads to more profit. Loyal
customers tend to bring in new customers through “word of mouth”
publicity. This happens only when customers are satisfied with food, service,
Place, ambience, hospitality etc.

As per the survey, 63.33 per cent of the people surveyed feel that they will
definitely visit the restaurant again as they have a great experience when
they come here. 26.67 per cent say that they will visit the restaurant
occasionally and 10 per cent say that they won’t prefer visit the restaurant
again as they were disappointed. Thus majority of the people opine that they
will visit the restaurant again, which is a positive indicator.

11. Rate your overall experience on a scale of 5?

Customer experience is an overall experience that derives from a number

thing such as quality of food, price, ambience, service provided, premises
etc. Pizza hut unlike its competitors has very good restaurants with good
seating arrangements, waiting room, children’s area etc. the overall
ambience of the place is quiet good, making it a casual hangout. The food is
great, with pizzas with an Indian desi touch. Service provided at the pizza
hut out lets is far better than that of their competitors. We asked the
respondents to rate pizza hut on a scale of 5 and the result is shown below:
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As per the graph above, 4 per cent of the customers surveyed are
dissatisfied with the overall dining experience and have rated their
experience 1 on a scale of 5. 12 per cent of the respondents have rated their
experience 2 on a scale of 5. 17 per cent have rated 3 and percent have
rated 4 on a scale of 5. This indicates the satisfaction level of the customers
coming to Pizza hut in Aundh. Moreover 23 per cent of the customers have
rated 5 on a scale for the great experience that they had.

CONCLUSION

The results of the above survey conducted clearly reflect the success of the
restaurant in providing a pleasant experience to its customers. Pizza hut
sells pizzas, garlic breads, chicken wings, ice creams and a variety of other
products. Thus Pizza hut offers a large variety of quality food.

The restaurant is known for its ambience, unlike its competitors. Pizza hut
has set up its outlets across the world with amenities such as children’s
area, waiting rooms, rest rooms, attractive furniture etc.to make dining a
better experience. This is one thing which has contributed towards customer
satisfaction. Hospitality at the pizza hut restaurant, In Aundh received a
positive compliment in the form of customer satisfaction. Majority of the
customers feel that staffs at the Aundh outlet are friendly, courteous, polite
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and helpful. The customers feel that pizza hut in Aundh gives complete
value for money that you pay.

Only concern that customers are disappointed with is the cleanliness at the
Aundh outlet. People find the crockery and cutlery dirty, plates and pans
lying on the floor and the stained ketchup bottles. The restaurant should
make immediate provision for the same in order to keep aloof its reputation.
The other thing that gives an edge to its competitors is the pizzas that are
priced high as compared to its competitors. However other factors discussed
above can help to overcome the high price charged by the pizza outlet chain
as people might be willing to pay a high price for quality food and the dining
experience.

Thus Pizza Hut, Aundh has already created its goodwill among its customers
based on the food and service it provides. They need to make sure that they
keep this image intact and continue to build upon customer satisfaction and
make more and more customers brand loyal.
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REFERENCES

• Lower staff of Pizza Hut, Aundh

• Mr. William Selvaraj -Employee –Pizza hut, Aundh
• http://www.pizzahut.co.in/media/pdf/article%202.pdf
• www.scirbd.com
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_Hut#International_variations
• http://www.crm.pizzahut.co.in/customer_feedback.php?type=2
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• www.pizzahut.com
• www.google.com
• www.survey.com