Pizza Marketplace.com:
Charlie Morrison, CEO of Pizza Inn, said he encourages his franchisees to experiment with new flavors and toppings on their pizzas. After all, some of the 310-unit-strong chain’s best-selling specialties started at the franchisee level, including a bacon cheeseburger pizza with a mustard base and pickle on top.
He also knows specific flavors play especially well only in particular areas. For example, jalapenos are especially favored in Texas. And Southeastern consumers like the barbecue sauce on a barbecue pizza to be more or less sweet.
Morrison is channeling a movement other CEOs are just recognizing. In the current do-or-die economic situation, struggling franchisees sometimes turn to localization naturally in a bootstrapped effort to stay afloat, according to Onsite Consulting’s James Sinclair, author of “How to Save your Restaurant in 10 Days.â€