What the Hell is going on at gourmet pizza business?
Hell Pizza says it is planning a tilt at the country’s biggest fast-food chain, Restaurant Brands, but the listed company says that is just “dribble”.
Director Warren Powell said Hell was also considering selling the 58-strong gourmet pizza business if it was offered “the right price”.
The future of the gourmet pizza chain has been up in the air since two of the directors, Callum Davies and Stuart McMullin, moved to London to start a pizza business there.
Though buying Restaurant Brands was a “long shot”, Mr Powell said they were quite seriously looking at it, or buying part of the Pizza Hut chain from Restaurant Brands, which operates Pizza Hut, KFC and Starbucks Coffee.
Mr Powell said Hell already had an Australian private equity backer willing to invest to help them buy the 60-odd Pizza Hut stores not yet re-signed by Restaurant Brands from Australian owner Yum Brands.
Restaurant Brands chief executive Vicki Salmon said no one had approached her from Hell Pizza.
Ms Salmon said it owned both the Pizza Hut master franchise from Yum and all 105 Pizza Hut stores in New Zealand, so it was impossible for Hell to take over either the master franchise or any of the stores. She described the whole thing as “dribble” and an attempt to generate publicity.
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