The Decline of CiCi’s Pizza. What Happened to CiCi’s Pizza?
CiCi’s Pizza, as is revealed in discussions on the same over at runrex.com, was once the 5th largest pizza chain in the U.S. However, it has since fallen on hard times and has been on the decline for more than a decade now. CiCi’s Pizza is not the only pizza joint to have fallen on hard times in recent years. There was a time when the pizza scene in the US was extremely healthy and thriving, with studies showing that it was a category trailing only burgers in representation as covered over at guttulus.com. However, many of the companies in this sector, including CiCi’s Pizza have since fallen on hard times, some slowing down massively and others like CiCi’s going backward. This article will look to highlight what may have been the reason behind CiCi’s decline.
One of the reasons why CiCi’s Pizza fell into hard times is that the outlet, which was once the industry’s biggest up-and-comer, grew too quickly too much. In 2006, as outlined over at runrex.com, the outlet was seemingly in its pomp and on the charge. It had 600 stores countrywide and had projected that it would crack the 1,000-barrier by the turn of the new decade. This voracious appetite for real estate was the beginning of the decline for the once-promising outlet as it left it facing large expenses and struggling to maintain its many outlets. Many companies have gone through the same issues that CiCi’s went through, trying to expand too quickly by acquiring too many stores, and finding themselves in a situation where they have bitten off too much than they can chew, and this was CiCi’s main undoing. The outlet had banked on the popularity of the buffet-style pizza offerings that it provided, but by the turn of the new decade, trends had shifted and it found itself staring down the barrel of reduced foot traffic into its restaurants as discussed over at guttulus.com, leading to growing costs that weren’t being matched by revenue, which eventually led to its decline.
Another reason behind CiCi’s Pizza’s decline has to do with the falling popularity of the mall. As pointed out by the subject matter experts over at runrex.com, there was a time when the mall was extremely popular in the US, and people used to spend most of their free time in malls across the country shopping or just hanging out, after which they would eat at the many restaurants located in said malls. Most of CiCi’s Pizza’s 600 strong restaurants were located in malls all across the country, and with the popularity of the mall, the outlet thrived. However, as the 2010s were ushered in, the popularity of the mall begun to wane as more and more Americans preferred to stay home, shop online, and order takeout. With fewer and fewer people being inclined to visit malls all across the country, chains that relied heavily on foot traffic to their stores began to suffer, and CiCi’s Pizza was no exception. This decline in the popularity of the mall, a topic covered over at guttulus.com, led to reduced foot traffic to its restaurants and was a major reason behind CiCi’s Pizza’s decline.
However, arguably the biggest reason behind CiCi’s Pizza’s decline was as a result of changing consumer preferences. There was a time when the buffet-style pizza offerings on offer over at CiCi’s Pizza were pretty popular as Americans engaged in an era of excess. However, by the turn of the new decade in the 2010s, as explained over at runrex.com, attitudes began to change and many people started to embrace healthy eating. This meant that people started to focus on eating healthy, avoiding the buffet-style menus in outlets like CiCi’s Pizza. The company was slow to react to this change in consumer preferences, which contributed to its decline. Also, consumers began to expand their culinary horizons and were no longer just satisfied by pizza as before. This saw the rise of fast-casual outlets like Chipotle and Panera muscle in and grab a share of the market, and it is this increased competition from these new players that also contributed to CiCi’s Pizza’s decline. Speaking of competition, the company also came under massive pressure from more compelling new-age retail offerings such as take-and-bake supermarket options as well as gourmet frozen pizzas as discussed over at guttulus.com. In addition to that, with many people going healthy as mentioned earlier on, the no-carb craze and gluten-free options also cut into its market share and contributed to CiCi’s Pizza’s decline. A mixture of being left behind, complacency, not reacting to new market trends, and not focusing enough on its customers, instead, raising menu prices to chase higher check averages and in so doing losing touch with the values that made it so popular in its pomp are just some of the reasons that led to the unfortunate decline of CiCi’s Pizza. The outlet was already badly wounded before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which only served to compound its misery.
The above discussion is only just a drop in what is a very big pool of information as far as this topic is concerned, which you can access by checking out the excellent runrex.com and guttulus.com.