Since its founding in 1959, Little Caesars has grown to the third largest pizza chain in the world with stores in each of the 50 states and 27 countries and territories.
Jeremy Vitaro, Chief Development Officer, Little CaesarsMichigan-based Little Caesars continues to look for ways to expand its empire both in existing markets and by identifying new ones. To bolster these efforts, the company continues to look for ways to enhance its operations through various forms of technology while continuing to leverage its existing infrastructure, which includes its Pizza Portal pickup, a heated, self-service mobile order pickup station. Little Caesars also continues to add to its development team, with former Inspire Brands executive Patrick Cunningham coming onboard in December 2022 as vice president of development. Here, Jeremy Vitaro, Little Caesars’ chief development officer, discusses the chain’s value proposition, its development plans and how technology continues to shape the way it equips and designs its locations.
Q: In your own words, what’s the experience that you want customers to have when visiting a Little Caesars?
A: We want to deliver value, quality and convenience. Value is the ability to feed the whole family at a great price. Quality is in the food we make. We make the dough in the store every day and are able to do it at a price point that’s affordable for consumers. And the third is convenience. We want to get food to people fast. We want to deliver great value in a very fast and convenient way.
Q: It’s early in 2023; what are Little Caesars’ development goals for the coming year?
A: We want to continue to accelerate our growth. I came in two years ago and we have since accelerated our growth. Now we want to take that to the next level in the U.S. and in international markets. We want to grow in a significant way into new markets that include the Northeast corridor, specifically New York City; certain markets in Florida; the Carolinas and the Pacific Northwest. We also want to grow within our existing markets. Internationally, we are in 27 countries today and we have an opportunity to grow to many more. We just opened in the United Kingdom, and we have the opportunity to grow into more cities there, including London and Liverpool. We are about to open in Portugal, too. We will continue to grow throughout Central and Latin America in Colombia, Chile and Peru.
Q: What lessons from your past experiences will you use to help shape Little Caesars’ development?
A: Most important for us, as a predominantly franchised-focused company, is finding the right franchise partner. That’s important in the U.S. and even more so internationally given the distance and other factors. We have to get the quality of the franchisee right and in the U.S. we have a great foundation of franchisees to grow with. Second, is doing some things differently. We launched delivery just before the pandemic hit in 2020. Delivery and digital ordering allows us to connect with customers we had not been able to connect with previously. That allows us to increase our penetration in existing markets and allows us to look at consumers in a new light. The use of technology is important for the consumer but technology is also important in identifying trade areas, new populations for our brand and more. We’ve brought over some really strong people — Patrick Cunningham is one of them — and added them to our already strong team. They have new ideas that will help us grow into areas.
Q: How does consumers’ increased use of tech impact the way you will equip and design your units?
A: We do need to think differently about the stores. The way consumers are getting their pizzas is changing. Drive-thru has been a part of our experience for a long time. It will be a part of our future, too, which is different compared to other pizza chains. Inside the lobby, we are experimenting with ways to be more convenient. We are looking at differentiating between pickup for customers and delivery drivers. We do have the Pizza Portal, which is a heated, self-service solution. When you order on the app you receive a QR code. And when you come into the store, you scan that QR code to access your pizza from our Pizza Portal. The delivery drivers can use that, too. We are relatively well set up because of how we have used drive-thru over the years and the Pizza Portal, but we do need to look at how we continue to evolve our designs.
Q: When looking for a location for a Little Caesars’ unit, what are some key traits that will help shape that decision? Demographics? Traffic?
A: That’s a big thing our team is working on; trying to make sure we find the right place for our stores. Demographics are important. We need good population density. We need to be where consumers live and their having the ability to drive past our locations is very important. Convenience and speed are so important for us. That can be drive-thru, which would be in end cap or free-standing units. When you get to more rural areas, standalone units become more popular for us. In suburban areas, end cap units can become more prominent. In some instances, we can offer pickup window solutions, too. In general, convenience is so important and finding ways for consumers to come in and out quickly plays an important role in site selection. That includes parking and strong traffic generators nearby, too.
Q: What about nontraditional locations — colleges, airports, etc.? What role do they play in your development plans for the coming year?
A: I believe that’s a big opportunity for us. We do have some nontraditional locations but that represents an untapped opportunity for us on college campuses, in airports, casinos and other entertainment venues. Our brand resonates so well when it comes to speed and convenience and those are key factors in those environments.
Q: There’s lots of discussion about automation and robotics in the restaurant industry, including pizza. From your perspective what role will automation play in the future of the industry?
A: We think it’s a viable trend. When you think about consumers’ demand for convenience, we are already meeting that with the Pizza Portal. But there’s more opportunity there. The labor challenges we saw in the past year have accelerated everyone’s need to find back-of-the-house solutions to make sure we are as efficient as possible. We think it will be important for the future of the industry and will continue to explore solutions on our end to ensure we remain efficient.
