Crust's Singapore Experience
QSR Media talks to Michael Rose, Crusts National Projects Director about their Overseas expansion.
Q. Why did you decide to take your brand OS?
Crust is a relatively young business bearing in mind we only became a franchise in 2007. Since then we have grown at an impressive rate and now have over 60 stores across the Eastern Seaboard and just opened our first in WA. Our Singapore store is our first venture overseas.
We are reaching saturation point for stores in the Sydney and Melbourne markets, and to continue to grow we are looking to the rest of Australia and overseas. Expanding outside of the domestic market is the natural evolution of a franchise that has successfully developed its current market and if Crust is to continue growing then overseas expansion is one of the core ways forward.
Q. What challenges did you face taking your brand OS?
Crust’s leadership team knew that having a firm understanding of the local market and culture would be key to overseas success, this required that the directors dedicate significant time and resources to research before making the move into Singapore. Crust’s leadership team invested in spending time on the ground to immerse themselves in the local environment, investigate opportunities and develop working relationships.
Finding the right retail space also proved an issue as, given the island’s small size, the Singapore commercial property market is highly competitive. We wanted to find the best possible location and premises, which again required dedicating the resources and time in Singapore to investigate our options and build relationships to secure the shop.
Q.What changes did you have to make to your brand or menu offering for it to translate to the local palette?
Crust’s aim is to offer customers a consistency of product and quality no matter which store they visit, so when making the move overseas we worked hard to secure high-quality local suppliers and ensure our offering was tailored to local preferences without straying from the Crust brand that our customers know and love. We made two main changes to our menu when opening up in Singapore, incorporating flavours and spices that appeal to local tastes and tailoring our products to meet different dietary requirements of Singaporeans as compared to the Australian market.
To ensure that we could keep our menu as consistent as possible across the whole group, Crust’s Creative Chef and former International Pizza Champion, Peter Augoustis designed a new range of Asian inspired pizzas that we introduced to our global menu in February this year. The new pizza varieties , including Saffron Chicken, Szechuan Chilli Prawn and Peking Duck, have proven very popular in Australia.
Crust is enormously proud to be the first takeaway pizza retailer in Australia to be awarded the Heart Foundation Tick of Approval on its range of healthier choice “Tick Pizzas” but this accreditation does not translate to the Singapore market. There is also not a high demand for healthier pizzas, consequently our range of “Tick Pizzas” isn’t featured on the Singapore menu although that’s not to say they won’t appear in the future. In Australia, Crust was one of the first takeaway pizza chains to offer customers gluten free options however once again in Singapore there isn’t the same demand for allergen-free options, so these pizzas do not feature on the menu.
Q. What resources/assistance from Australian Government agencies have you used and what has been your experience?
Crust has investigated assistance and grants from both the Australian and Singaporean governments, and is currently in discussions with Austrade regarding marketing export grants.
Q. How did you choose your overseas Markets?
Singapore is a growth economy, and we wanted to tap into and capitalise on the growing Asian market. Its expat population makes Singapore a natural first step from Australia into Asia and we have plans for continued expansion into Asia. Singapore is also very accommodating to Western businesses.
