Find out how Town & Country is using personalisation and innovation to fire up its business

QSR Media sat down with the people behind Town & Country Pizza and Pasta to talk about the role of innovation and personalisation in its business, as well as how the brand copes with rising prices, and its plans for the future.

Town & Country has been in operation for the past 25 years, with a network of nine outlets throughout Australia. The brand offers traditional and gourmet pizzas, pasta, and salads.

QSR Media: Can you tell us more about your brand?

For over 25 years Town & Country has ensured it maintains its mission to consistently deliver through pizza and pasta, a passionate commitment to excellent customer service, quality product and unrivalled value.

We strive daily on providing back to the local communities we service with a warm and friendly experience that sees people return to our stores two to three times a week. Whether it be the convenience of not having to cook, the large variety, the delivery service or the lively and inviting restaurants, each location has its own identity which allows people nearby to treat it as their own.

Town & Country is the flexible, fun spirited brand that has been able to reinvent itself through a changing market year on year. Innovative products, quality ingredients and a smooth, efficient operation in each location means a professional experience is given with confidence time and time again.

With a passionate corporate team alongside enthusiastic and hard working franchisees Town & Country is now in regional and CBD locations across the country. It is this connection that allows the stores to operate as one large family catering to the people closest to them, their peers, their locals.

QSR Media: What's the philosophy behind your brand's menu?

Quality meets value. Although fresh produce is rising in price due to market conditions we hope to sustain a price point that means customers can enjoy a high quality product and have an experience that matches that of the top food businesses without having to pay the price for it. We are now progressing in our restaurants to more of an Italian kitchen and in our outlets narrowing in on our pizza and pasta offering to ensure it at its best no matter the volume of trade at any location.

QSR Media: What have you observed with the demand of consumers today?

Thanks to TV, consumers are becoming much more educated and engaged. They are now demanding innovation and better quality ingredients to keep them interested along with professional service. This puts enormous pressure on our suppliers to ensure they can cater for our high standards that we need to maintain and retain our loyal customer base.

QSR Media: What can you say are the challenges you are currently facing in the industry? Opportunities?

On a store level produce and food suppliers are having a tough time given market conditions. Although we have volume its slowly becoming unavoidable as they recover. Our challenge is working with those suppliers to ensure our stores do not lose quality product for the sake of keeping margins where they are.

We see our opportunity to fit in to most local communities and provide them with a neighbourhood pizza place they can call their own. We fit between all the current offerings and challenge them on price and quality. This is where we will continue to capitalise on giving people what they want through our flexible approach.

QSR Media: Any big plans you have for the year?

We will be opening another five stores this year with emphasis on growing properly rather than rapidly. Of course we can cater to it however we would rather less stores doing really well rather that more doing just ok.

QSR Media: What would you like to tell the market about the direction of your brand?

We have a clear path ahead of us as we continue to streamline our systems and procedures. Our brand is being built on giving the broader population an experience and product that they can claim to be there own through customisation, innovation and discipline toward our professional service. We will be accentuating this as we grow along with continuing to be a very pro-franchisee brand.