12 December 2008
Hell keeps the fire burning
Despite talk of a recession, HELL is firing on all cylinders, reopening stores and offering an extensive popular menu.
The irreverent pizza chain has recently reopened its Northcross and Manukau restaurants, adding to the over 60 HELL
stores stretching from Whangarei to Invercargill.
"Our Northcross store reopened this week," says Head of Hell, Colin Mellar. "For the past year we've had feedback from
customers in this area who missed their favourite pizzas, so with these two recent reopenings we're looking forward to
welcoming even more people to HELL."
Interestingly the company has also experienced a lift in franchise enquiries over the last month.
"This is common in tough times with people coming out of corporate roles looking for small business opportunities," says
Mr Mellar. "HELL is a high profile brand with a good size network of franchisees supported by a wider team, and yes we
love to stir things up from time to time."
Living up to its edginess, HELL is ranked in the top eight "Cool Brands" on New Zealand's "Cool Scale", according to
youth research brand tracker 18 Tracker.
And while ruffling feathers is key to HELL's popularity, its menu range speaks for itself. 71% of consumers choose HELL
because of its food, significantly beating other pizza competitors on the measurements of quality, taste, toppings and
variety (source: Research Solutions. August 2007).
Mr Mellar believes the quality of the pizzas and ingredients, teamed with a unique brand offering, are the brand's
competitive advantages - and despite considering changes to some of our pizza recipes, an idea that was dismissed, he
assures customers that topping levels remain as they always have been - unchanged.
"Not only are our pizzas laden with the freshest gourmet ingredients, we are the only company that use wholemeal bases
and we offer gluten free bases. At HELL we're committed to offering the widest menu range with the best ingredients that
deliver the best quality pizzas, as well as a unique brand experience."
ENDS