Just over a decade since Greek Australian cousins Costa Anastasiadis and Michael Logos entered the pizza franchising business, Crust Gourmet Pizza Bars announced that it will be sold to retail food brand manager and franchisor, Retail Food Group (RFG).
RFG, also the owners of high-end pizza joint Pizza Capers, will take over the business and intellectual property assets of the Crust brand system.
Crust started as a stand-alone store in Annandale, New South Wales, growing to 119 outlets in 11 years. Stores are predominantly in New South Wales and Victoria, though in recent years the company has expanded into New Zealand, Singapore and the United States.
The company moved into a franchising model in its tenth year, and grew to include five partners, not all of them family. Nevertheless, the founding brothers maintained the company’s nature as a family business.
Managing director Costas Anastasiadis and chief executive officer Michael Logos will continue to steer the business under RFG umbrella. Logos told Hospitality Magazine that the acquisition by RFG will not affect the “core attributes” that has been part of Crust’s success so far.
“The opportunity to partner with a growing public company with proven expertise in the retail food franchising industry offers our franchisees and other stakeholders early access to the benefits of a larger organisation while retaining the core attributes that have generated the Crust Gourmet success story to date,” he said.
In 2010, The Age published an article which named Crust as a pizza franchise “experiencing a post-GFC boom”. During that year, the company experienced a huge growth of franchise enquiries and openings in the space of 18 months. By 2011, the year of their tenth anniversary, Crust had an annual turnover of $140 million.
Crust Pizza’s founders acknowledges constant change is a reality for businesses and flexibility has been a hallmark of Crust’s success. Using social media and launching an online ordering system generated further growth for the brand, with 20 per cent of sales coming from the website in late 2011.
Since launching into the take-away market 11 years ago by targeting a niche middle point between restaurant dining and low-cost take-aways, Crust’s genre of gourmet pizzas has become the norm in the marketplace, with other pizza franchises following suit. Crust has since expanded its range of products to include ‘Healthier Choice’ options and the option to buy pizzas by the slice in shopping centres, airports and stadiums.
The move by RFG follows its acquisition of the 118 outlet Pizza Capers Gourmet Kitchen brand in April this year. The food brand manager predicts that combined Crust and Pizza Capers will deliver around $7.5m in earnings in its 2013 financial year.
The acquisition takes RFG’s total network of stores across its different brands to more than 1350. Its stable also includes Donut King, Michel’s Patisserie, Brumby’s Bakery, BB’s Cafe, and Esquires Coffee House.