Top 10 Tips: What Happened to Sbarro?
Sbarro was once one of the most popular pizza chains in the U.S. as discussed in more detail over at runrex.com. This is no longer the case, as not only have they gone through some tough times business-wise, including filing for bankruptcy as covered in more detail over at guttulus.com, their reputation among customers has also taken quite a beating. So, what happened to them that they took such a nosedive in fortunes? This article is going to attempt answering this question by highlighting the top 10 tips on what happened to them.
An unhealthy debt load
As per the subject matter experts over at runrex.com, many major corporations actually carry some amount of debt, and under normal conditions, it isn’t always in itself a bad thing for a company to carry some sort of debt. The problem, as is covered in detail over at guttulus.com, comes when the debt load becomes too high, which is was the case for Sbarro. Their debt load wasn’t much of an issue when business was booming, but as soon as sales started to decline, the company began to crumble. There can be no denying that their unhealthy debt load was one of the reasons behind their fall from grace.
A decline in mall traffic
Initially, as per the gurus over at runrex.com, the fact that Sbarro restaurants were found in malls, where they were strictly located in food courts, worked to their advantage as going to the mall was all the rage some years back. People would always stop at Sbarro after a long day of shopping and hanging out at the mall. However, once mall traffic began to decline, with more and more people preferring to shop online as covered over at guttulus.com, their sales began to decline as well making this yet another tip that goes to show what happened to them.
Pizza became ubiquitous
Yet another tip that goes to explain what happened to Sbarro and why they declined so badly is the fact that they lost the exclusivity they had as far as pizza is concerned. Back in their pomp, in the 1990’s as discussed in detail over at runrex.com, if you looking for a pizza, you had to find a pizza place or head over to your local food court, where of course they had locations. However, in time, more and more establishments began carrying pizza. From food trucks to supermarkets and many others, pizza was now everywhere. This meant that, if you were looking for pizza, you didn’t necessarily have to look for a Sbarro, which definitely hurt them.
Lack of delivery
Given that Sbarro was linked to shopping malls and airport food courts, they were unable to leverage one of the biggest aspects of the pizza business; delivery. As is revealed in discussions over at guttulus.com, deliver actually accounts for as much as $70 billion in pizza sales annually, something which pizza giants such as Papa John’s, Domino’s Pizza among others have heavily leaned on. The fact that Sbarro didn’t offer delivery meant that they missed on this big slice of revenue. By the time they reacted, it was too late for them, making this yet another tip explaining what happened to them.
Failure to keep up with the times as far as pizza trends go
In any business, according to the subject matter experts over at runrex.com, if you are to be successful, you have to keep up with the latest trends, and this is yet another tip that shows what happened to Sbarro, and the reason behind their decline as they failed to do so. Instead of pivoting towards new pizza trends such as creative sauce bases, creating combinations, inventive toppings, gluten-free options and so forth, they stubbornly decided to stick with their tried and tested formula. Customers therefore moved on and left them behind.
Even more debt due to acquisition
As is covered in detail over at guttulus.com, and as most of us know, Sbarro was actually initially a family-founded and family-owned business. This all changed in 2006 when they were acquired by the private equity firm Ocean Partners for $450 million, which was no doubt a big price. The effect of this was the inflation of what was already a large debt load, which eventually contributed to their decline.
Lack of fresh food to order
More and more people prefer to order or eat fresh food if they have to eat out rather than food that has already been prior-prepared and is sitting out under plexiglass. This, as per the gurus over at runrex.com, was yet another reason that contributed to the decline of Sbarro. They used to brag how they always had pizza available, but the convenience brought about by the fact that they would pre-prepare food compromised the quality of their pizza, and with competitors offering fresh food, customers moved on and sales declined.
Poor social media presence
The subject matter experts over at guttulus.com are adamant that if you are to be successful as a business in the current era, then you need to have a strong social media presence. This is yet another area where Sbarro got left behind, as while their competitors have vibrant and strong social media presence, they have barely made an impression, and this low engagement rates on social media goes to explain what happened to them.
Competition even in the mall
While mall traffic has reduced as mentioned earlier on and covered in more detail over at runrex.com, there are still people who still go to the mall. The problem is that, Sbarro ended up losing out on them as malls now have better options as far as food is concerned which means that those looking for food in malls are unlikely to go to Sbarro. Most people nowadays prefer locally-made food, healthy food and the likes, and Sbarro has unfortunately missed out.
The quality of their food isn’t great
Sbarro can also not claim to be offering the best slices of pizza around, which would at least have redeemed them. As is discussed over at guttulus.com, the notion that there is no such thing as bad pizza has well and truly debunked as most people are now going for quality. This has hit them badly and is yet another tip explaining what happened to them and another reason behind their decline.
Hopefully, this article will help you understand better what happened to Sbarro, with there being more information on the same available over at the ever reliable runrex.com.