Delivery promotions bright spot in Pizza Pizza Royalty Corp. Q1 2021 results

Toronto – Pizza Pizza Royalty Corp., parent company of Pizza Pizza and Pizza 73, released financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2021.

The company reports its Royalty Pool of restaurants for 2021 decreased by 24 net restaurants on Jan. 1, 2021, Royalty Pool sales decreased 13.9 per cent and adjusted earnings per share decreased 14.5 per cent.

Same-store sales decreased 13.3 per cent. Providing context, the company reports that the loss of walk-in sales and non-traditional sales has resulted in a significant reduction in franchise-wide sales. However, the increase in delivery sales at both brands has partially offset this reduction.

On a more encouraging note, its restaurant network increased by seven locations during the first quarter

Paul Goddard, chief executive officer for Pizza Pizza Limited, summarized the company’s challenges and successes and outlined plans for the future: “On balance, our Q1 results demonstrated our brands’ resilience during these turbulent times. Recurring virus waves and lockdowns continued affecting important sales channels, particularly, walk-in sales and our non-traditional sales, including business catering. While we continue to follow all government mandated dining restrictions, we had great success with our delivery promotions, specifically our pizza and Uno card game promotion, bringing food and fun together for at-home enjoyment. Additionally, in the first quarter of the year, we ramped up new restaurant construction and renovations to take advantage of retail space availability as we expect an accelerated vaccination rollout program will drive consumer confidence as the year progresses.”

By brand, sales from the 622 Pizza Pizza restaurants in the Royalty Pool decreased 14.2 per cent to $90.2 million and the 103 Pizza 73 restaurants decreased 12.5 per cent to $18.0 million for the quarter.

For more information, see the company’s statement.