e of Australia’s largest pizza makers. Today, the Australian owned and operated network has stores across Queensland, NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, the ACT and Northern Territory. In the past 12 months the company has focused on expanding into international markets, including India, Fiji and the Middle East. Locally, it has a five-year strategy in place around innovation and product development, which also covers the strategic expansion of its Eagle Boys Express products. Justin Grey: How did the elevation to CEO come about and what are you intentions in the role? Nick Vincent: I came into the business to align the key departments in a customer-focused way. We went through some restructuring and realignment of departments and got all the teams really focused on thinking about the customer. We set about reworking the whole [marketing] budget. We did some restructuring and removed some of the people and realigned some of the roles. That was done to try and maximise the amount we were spending above the line. So it was re-cutting budgets and getting the brand back above the line and introducing some efficiencies through digital and promotions. I also started to work across international, and our Express brand as well. And having done that for 12 months, the owners decided to appoint me to CEO. JG: How is the overseas expansion shaping up for Eagle Boys and what realistic targets are you working towards? NV: We are really focused on international. We’ve learnt a lot from going into India – that has opened our eyes to the opportunity overseas. We’ve just opened our 19th store in India, and that has come from two stores 18 months to two years ago. In India we are aiming for 350 stores. We’ve got quite a solid plan; our modelling shows that if we cut right down by town, we know 350 is a realistic figure for India. That’s a five-year plan, and because of the interest we’re getting we think that’s achievable. We’ve seen quite rapid growth as the brand gets into the market. We’ve localised the offer, so it is a different menu. We have different experiences instore and we have dine-in stores. And that’s what we’ll be about when we enter countries – we’ll be localising the offer to that country. Building off our operational platform, and our technology, and then opening in different markets. We’ve got one store in Fiji, five in PNG, and we’ve had interest out of Qatar and Bahrain. The Gulf states is definitely an area we are focused on opening with master franchise units. And then also Africa. We had some interest out of Mozambique, and we’re talking to possible master franchise partners in South Africa as an entry point. Beyond that, there’s Malaysia, Vietnam and The Philippines in southeast Asia, which have been areas we have looked at. JG: You’ve just finished a roadshow with Eagle Boys’ franchisees around the country. What were the learnings from that? NV: We go out and speak to our franchisees a couple of times a year. This time we really focused on operations. It’s really important to get franchisees’ feedback on the overall business strategy, and on operations. We’ve got a number of franchisees who have been in the system for more than 20 years. And we definitely value their opinion – they’ve seen a lot of change in the Eagle Boys business, and it’s good to have their feedback. We have 140 franchisees in Australia [and] we have 16 corporate stores.   JG: What’s the current sentiment with the franchisees, after those serious concerns that were raised in the media by some Eagle Boys franchisees earlier in the year? NV: The feeling is quite positive. A lot of those concerns that came through the press were from ex-franchisees who were no longer part of the system. But we’ve really set about over the last 12 months rebuilding the culture and engagement. The press articles were unfortunate, and a lot of the issues mentioned were unfounded. We think it’s really important to drive a tenacious culture within the business. Driving value, driving customer experience, and getting more customers. In Australia we have 150 stores. We have 50 express outlets, and then with our overseas stores we sit at just over 220. When [majority owner and private equity investor] NBC Capital funded the buyout of the business, there were around 170 core standard stores. The numbers did increase slightly after that, but they have come off. It is a very competitive space. So we set about stabilising the network, and the number of stores closing has dropped significantly over the past six month. JG: What store numbers are you targeting for Australia? NV: We believe in Australia 250 stores, and that will be a mix across standard stores and some up-specked Express stores, which we are calling ‘hybrid stores’, that’s that entry into smaller, regional areas. JG: Is franchising viable for retailers as a business expansion model? NV: I definitely think it is. There’s no doubt that the cost of labour is a challenge for the industry. But it’s important to really focus on that top line. From my point of view, by focusing on your expense lines, that can often be the detriment of driving sales at the top end. It’s still a concern for our franchisees, but we try and assist them with guidance on rostering and making sure that they have coverage in peak times and looking at efficiencies in the roster at other times. But franchising has been around a long time, and will continue to survive, because it is a good model for expansion. With the other expense lines, I think lease costs also is something that franchisors have to be aware of – making sure that you are opening in sites that are going to get traffic, but are still efficient in terms of cost to the franchisee. What’s really important in a franchise system is having a strong culture that comes ultimately from our franchisees. Being transparent with our franchisees about strategy and direction, and really getting them focused on the customer, and giving them the confidence that we are aligning our marketing spend to the customer to drive business. JG: Eagle Boys is up against a very innovative, well-funded competitor in Domino’s. How are you finding the market – and what is Eagle Boys doing in terms of tech innovation? NV: It is a value driven market. Customers are looking for value, and they’re looking for convenience. And there is no doubt that Domino’s has used technology to increase that level of convenience, but at the same time they’re maintaining the value proposition. Our strategy is to drive value, and also drive convenience. We spend a lot of money and resources on making sure that our technology is up to date. We will be releasing a new mobile ordering site by the end of November. We really think that convenience is people ordering pizza on the go. The customer is becoming more time-poor, and they really want that convenience. For the pizza industry, online sales are growing at a rapid rate, because all of the major pizza players are really focusing on that space. Our new mobile site will have some features which will make it very easy for someone to order pizza, by minimising the clicks they need to push on the phone. So being in the space is very important, but also keeping pace with technology as consumers change the way they order pizza. JG: Eagle Boys Express is something that allows you to diversify your offer to customers. How has Eagle Boys Express acted as an expansion strategy for the business? NV: It’s a really great platform from a couple of angles. It does drive revenue to the business, but it also drives brand exposure. We’ve got a number of key sites – cinemas, airports, and fuel have been our real focus. It’s just getting eyeballs on the Eagle Boys brand. We try and maintain consistency in our branding and in our offer. We spend a lot of time working on our dough in that model, because these sites can’t make dough from scratch, like our other stores. So we’ve really set about replicating the dough, and it’s worked. We also know that we can use that express channel to drive entry into smaller, regional markets, and we are looking at that. So that’s partnering with fuel sites and cafes and hotels. We’re now in around 150 BP sites and Wild Bean cafes with our products. So we’ve got a product strategy there, and we really localise the offer. So what you see in a convenience store Eagle Boys brand might be different to what you see in a cinema. So we’ve got a whole bank of products and we work closely with our supply partners to make sure that that offer is really localised to the business. We are continually approached by JV partners who want Eagle Boys as part of their overall brand, because it is a known brand and it gives them something else. JG: Is NBC Capital getting behind your plans with investment? Has widespread advertising been put back in place? NV: Absolutely. They are wanting to drive the brand. A lot of those comments around the advertising are just comments. The funding wasn’t pulled. They always sought to market the business; it’s just that the strategy within the marketing department that, probably from a franchisee’s point of view, they may not have agreed with. They are committed to driving the business now with this international growth strategy. Want more Inside Retail? Subscribe to Inside Retail Weekly now and get our premium print publication delivered to your door every week.