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One CEO's view on how traditional pizza will weather the fast casual storm

Hungry Howie's CEO chatted about how the Detroit-based chain is competing with fast casual concepts by evolving and sticking to basic principles.

August 7, 2015 by Nicole Troxell — Associate Editor, Networld Media Group

With all the talk about fast casual pizza, some may wonder if traditional sitdown-style pizza joints still have a place at the table. Hungry Howie's CEO Steve Jackson, however, said it may be simpler for traditional pizzerias to weather the ever-changing storm than you think. We spoke with Jackson about how the Detroit-based Hungry Howie's, open since 1973, and one of the largest pizza chains in the U.S., is succeeding by both evolving and sticking to basic principles.

In general how will fast casual style pizza fare against traditional QSR pizza chains in the future?

Steve Jackson: The two styles of pizza chains are very different from one another- so much so that we don’t necessarily consider this new “fast casual” to be a head-to-head competitor with us. Traditional pizza chains are much more family orientated. Demographically speaking, the traditional pizza category generally focuses on the family unit, as opposed to fast casual pizza that focuses on serving individuals. Fast casual pizza may do well in highly concentrated urban segments— such as NYC or LA— but we are confident that suburban America will remain a strong customer of the traditional pizza segment.

How this trend will impact traditional pizza, particularly chains like Papa John’s and Domino’s (for example, in the way that McDonald’s has been impacted by fast casual)?

We don’t believe this trend will impact traditional pizza chains significantly. Traditional pizza chains need to stick to what they do best- making family-style pizza- rather than deviating from their business model in response to more novel or gourmet style pizza making. Traditional pizza chains cater to their own set of demographics—our customers will not necessarily be swayed by the growing fast casual pizza chains.

Pizza Marketplace: How is Hungry Howie’s impacted by this trend?

Hungry Howie’s will stick to its business model, which is to use the freshest ingredients, stick to the basics that people have loved year after year and evolve with our customers’ changing needs- whether that be online ordering or healthier menu options. While we remain consciously aware of our customer demographics’ changing needs, we don’t intend to recreate our business model simply due to the increase in fast casual pizza sites.

Pizza Marketplace: What does the traditional pizza segment need to change, if anything, in light of this trend?

The traditional pizza chains don’t need to change anything, but rather, continue to improve the path they are already on. Customers who order traditional pizza are not looking for gourmet toppings. We see that fast casual pizza mainly targets the lunch crowd, is geared towards individuals and overall has a different strategy to succeed. Therefore, we don’t believe the traditional pizza segment needs to dramatically alter what they have been doing for decades.

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