Turning around a master franchise after its acquisition
Pizza Hut France, AmRest group — President, January 2017 – July 2019; also Managing Director of La Tagliatella France
Context
- The acquisition. In 2017, AmRest bought the Pizza Hut master franchise in France.
- The business taken over.
- 200 employees;
- €70m revenue;
- a network of 115 franchisees.
- The situation.
- revenue down 5.7%;
- a 2017 loss of €3m;
- part of the franchisee base heavily indebted.
- The stake. Turning around a historic delivery brand under operational and reputational pressure.
Decisions
- Operations first.
- overhaul of the operations manual;
- team upskilling programme.
- Network clean-up.
- targeted closure of 8 under-performing outlets;
- support for restructuring €3m of franchisee debt.
- Digital overhaul.
- e-commerce site;
- delivery tools;
- marketing;
- e-learning.
- Fast casual. The brand’s first fast casual concept in France, opened in Nantes in November 2018.
Results
- Revenue. From -5.7% to +14% in 2019, after two years of decline.
- Operating losses. From -€3m in 2017 to close to break-even in 2019.
- E-commerce. Conversion rate up 50% on the new site.
- Network and growth.
- €3m of franchisee debt restructured;
- new openings;
- one fast casual concept opened.
What I take from it
- Start with operations. A turnaround begins with the operations manual, not with communication. A customer lost to a late delivery does not come back because of a campaign.
- Cleaning up the network protects strong franchisees. Closing few outlets, but quickly, costs less than letting loss-making ones linger.
- Digital delivers fast, measurable results, provided the ordering journey is fixed before the shop window.
On video
- Video: Franchise Expo Paris 2018, with a Romainville franchisee (Observatoire de la Franchise, in French)
Other cases: Subway: growing · Just Eat: transforming
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