![PizzalandNewcastle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/PizzalandNewcastle.jpg)
Pizzaland was a chain of
pizza
Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onions ...
restaurants owned by
Associated Newspapers
DMG Media (stylised in lowercase) is an intermediate holding company for Associated Newspapers, Northcliffe Media, Harmsworth Printing, Harmsworth Media and other subsidiaries of Daily Mail and General Trust. It is based at Northcliffe House in ...
and then by
United Biscuits
United Biscuits (UB) is a British multinational food manufacturer, makers of McVitie's biscuits, Jacob's Cream Crackers, and Twiglets. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In Nove ...
. In the early 1990s,
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert at d ...
and Pizzaland were regarded as the largest pizza eateries in Britain; UK business ceased in 1996. International branches continue to operate.
History
Pizzaland (Associated Restaurants) was founded in 1970 by David Dutton, financed by Associated Newspapers. The chain rapidly expanded throughout London, and then into the Northwest. The first restaurant outside London was opened in
Deansgate
Deansgate is a main road (part of the A56) through Manchester City Centre, England. It runs roughly north–south in a near straight route through the western part of the city centre and is the longest road in the city centre at over one mile ...
, Manchester; from its northern/southern base Pizzaland grew into a chain of over 140 restaurants before United Biscuits acquired the company in 1980. Jullian Griffiths, Greg Barwick and Michael Stidolph were the senior managers responsible for the successful growth of the company in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1983, a total change in senior management and a change in siting policy, that often resulted in Pizzaland opening in towns that were too small to support them, started the decline of a once successful business.
"Pizza for a penny"
In the late 1980s the chain aggressively tried to boost revenues with discount cut-out coupons in British tabloid newspapers; vouchers offering the same deals were often given directly to patrons for future visits. The most popular of these was the "pizza for a penny" scheme, whereby customers could purchase one pizza and obtain another of equal or lesser value for 1p. While initially a huge success, the offer had backfired by the mid 1990s since it became an expectation for customers, many of whom would no longer use the chain unless they could source a coupon beforehand. As such, the "pizza for a penny" strategy came to be regarded as a major catalyst in the demise of Pizzaland in the UK.
Closure in Britain
In November, 1996, Whitbread bought the Pizzaland group Brightreasons and converted many Pizzaland locations into
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert at d ...
.
With many unrelated eateries subsequently assuming the "Pizzaland" name, and the chain being retrospectively confused with Pizza Hut, its legacy in the UK is now obscured.
Some of the branches also became Bella Pasta.
See also
*
PizzaExpress
PizzaExpress is a British multinational restaurant group, owned by a group of bondholders. It has over 470 restaurants across the United Kingdom and 100 overseas in Europe, Hong Kong, China, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, the Philippines, the Unit ...
, a rival British chain
References
{{Pizza chains, state=collapsed
Pizza chains of the United Kingdom
Defunct pizzerias
Defunct restaurants in the United Kingdom
Defunct restaurant chains
Restaurants disestablished in 1996
Restaurants established in 1970
British companies disestablished in 1996
British companies established in 1970