Find out more about Eagle Boys' new Virtual Drivethru and how technology is changing the pizza biz
QSR Media talks to Eagle Boys CEO Nick Vincent about the brand's new Virtual Drivethru and the brand's vision for the future of the pizza industry.
QSR Media: What went behind the initiative to create and design your Virtual Drivethru? What inspired its creation?
Nick Vincent: Eagle Boys opened the first pizza Drivethru store at Bendigo in the late 90s. The success of these sites over the years meant we had to ask the question: How do we make it more convenient for the 70% of our customers who want to pick up their pizza rather than having it delivered? The answer lay in technology.
Virtual Drivethru only adds a few extra steps in the order process, and with only two phone clicks from a SMS link (sent after ordering), customers can pull up to an Eagle Boys store and one of our staff will bring the order to the car window for no extra cost.
QSR Media: Can you give us some insights into how you engage your customers? How do you make use of traditional and non-traditional means? How about digital?
Nick Vincent: In the very competitive pizza industry we use all forms of media to promote the brand and drive sales. Our online sales are growing by double digits year after year and this is not by accident. We spend a lot of money on making sure we have a great online ordering experience for our customers. Promoting the ease and convenience of online ordering is done via online advertising, email marketing, social media and more traditional media including TV, outdoor, print and radio.
QSR Media: What can you say are the current trends you see in the market today?
Nick Vincent: Current trends have not changed in decades. People still want tasty food that’s good value and served in a timely manner.
What has changed are people’s expectations in terms of being served in a timely manner. Technology has meant our customers can order at any time from just about anywhere and they expect their pizza to be served quickly. Developments in technology has also meant we can achieve this.
Now that speed and convenience is just an expectation, how we can be different is to keep innovating our product and making sure we are making great pizzas. This is why the Eagle Boys brand has stood the test of time. Our customer feedback keeps re-affirming our pizzas are better.
QSR Media: Given your latest technological innovation, how do you see your brand five years from now? How about ten?
Nick Vincent: In five years from now we see our brand being in different locations with both smaller and larger foot prints. We will be focused on opening the right store in the right area and we see lots of opportunity to push our brand into the fast-casual space. Technology will always play a major part in our change but it will be focused on the customer. Ten years is a long time away and when we look back at the last ten years there has been so much change. Because of this, it’s right to assume flavour profiles not even discovered might become mainstream and Eagle Boys Pizza may be delivered directly into your oven at home.
QSR Media: Any big plans for the year?
Nick Vincent: We’ve got a busy year ahead, some fantastic promotions, more technology releases and some great new products for the footy season. We are definitely not slowing down.
