Pizza Hut, Inc. Local Pilot Survey results Prepared for: Dr Michael Hyman Prepared by: December 11.1997
December 11. 1996 Ms Karen Lankford President, NMSU American Advertising Federation New Mexico State University Subject: Report on the results of the Pizza Hut, Inc. local pilot survey Dear Ms Lankford I am pleased to present you with a report on the results of the Pizza Hut, Inc. local pilot survey This report was prepared in accordance to the research proposal-contract that was submitted to you in September 1996 As we predicted, the report indicates that people get food to carryout more often than they eat inside a full service restaurant. The report recommends that in order to entice people into eating at Pizza Hut, advertising should emphasize the quality of food, employee friendliness/service, and Pizza hut offers. These characteristics were found to be the most important to customers when selecting a restaurant. The survey was distributed in two ways. Approximately 75% of the surveys were gathered by myself via mall intercept. The remaining 25% was distributed by members of the NMSU American Advertising Federation to their acquaintances within the target audience The total number of surveys tabulated in the results is 100. I believe that these questionnaires are representative of the customers involved in the study. In preparing the pilot survey questions, information from local focus groups and secondary data was used. The survey was found to be habits, pizza preferences, media habits and demographic Omer preferences regarding restaurant complete and addressed a number of areas including: cus The results of this survey can be used by the Nmsu american Advertising Federation to design a national survey as well as to make preliminary decisions regarding a national advertising campaig for Pizza Hut, Inc. I would like to thank you for your cooperation in completing this research and I look forward to working with you in the future Andrea Juarez Researcher American Advertising Federation
Table of Contents Pizza Hut, Inc. Local Pilot Survey results Letter of Transmittal Executive Summary Research Introduction Methodology Results 4-11 Consumer Behavior Restaurant Attributes Media Habits 479 11 Limitations Conclusions 1. Recommendations ppendix Research Proposal urvey Consumer behavior Statistics estaurant Qualities Statistic Media Habits Statistics
Executive Summary Background In 1997 Pizza Hut, Inc. plans to make a $2 billion investment to modify existing restaurants or to build new ones. This involves everything from updating the design and decor to providing new ways to sell the product to the consumer. Pizza Hut, Inc. has requested that the NMSU American Advertising Federation create an integrated marketing communications campaign that will introduce these changes to the target audience. The purposc of this local pilot study was to determine the target audience's attitude toward eating at full service restaurants. Ultimately, the results of this study will be used to create a national survey. Results may also be used to make preliminary decisions regarding a national advertising campaign for Pizza Hut, Inc In defining the limits of this study, several areas were identified including: determining the target audience's attitude toward eating at restaurants, defining the target audience's behavior relative to its decision to dine out, determining what restaurant services, selection, or other variable the target audience likes most when eating out, identifying the extent to which the target audient dines at Pizza Hut, Inc. restaurants, and determining the target audience's media habits This research design consisted of exploratory research conducted through a local pilot survey The samplc dcsign sclected for the survey included adults between the ages of 18 and 49. Local target audience members provided the database for this study. The selection of sand g etpt, respondents was done by convenience sampling. The survey was distributed via mall int and was also distributed by NMsu American Advertising Federation members to their acquaintances within the target audience age group. The total number of target audience members surveyed was 100. There was a 100% response rate. Results Consumer behavior Most respondents(42%)said they get food to carryout"1-2 times a week. " In general, 65% of respondents get carryout at least once a week, and 34 of respondents rout at least once a month. Men get carryout more frequently than women. Most respondents(39%)eat in a full service restaurant"once a month In general, 43 of respondents said they eat at a full service restaurant at least once a week and 56% of respondents said they eat in a full service restaurant at least once a month. Women and people with incomes of $45,000 or more are more likely to eat in a full service restaurant more In general, 6% eef respondents eat pizza at least once a month and 3 1 %eat pizza at least once a week/Men, people ages 18-24 and people who make $25,000 or more eat pizza most frequentl The majority of respondents(68%)said they eat at Pizza Hut"once a month"and over half of these respondents were women
Restaurant qualities When choosing a restaurant, respondents answered that the following qualities are ver important": food quality (8 dliness(51%), and prid (47%). These responses matched answers to a similar question that asked respondents to choose the best quality of their favorite restaurant: 53% answered quality of food, 14% answered price 12% answered service, and 8% answered atmosphere. Those qualities considered"fairly important"are speed of service(58%), atmosphere (42%)and menu variety (37%o). Approximatel 42% of respondents said that they pay about"$4-7 per person"when eating at Pizza Hut Media habits The majority of the target audience listens to radio is between 6am-3pm during the week(67%) The top four radio formats were Country (24%), Rock(18%), Adult Contemporary(14%),and Golden Oldies(13%). Most respondents watch TV from 7: 30 on during the week(77%). The most popular program types are Situation Comedy(42%o), News(21 %), Sports(17%)and Drama (14%). Almost half of the target audience (48%)answered that they use the Internet. The target audience reads a variety of magazines including the following types: Womens(16%), News and Business(12%), and Fashion and Entertainment(10%). Most members of the target audience do not read the local newspaper regularly Conclusions and Recommendations Conclusions respondents eat pizza at least once a month and also eat at Pizza hut at least once a mont ost Most respondents get food to carryout more often than they eat in a full service restaurant. Consumers find the following attributes most important when selecting a restaurant: food quality cleanliness, employee friendliness, and price. They care less about speed of service, atmosphere and menu variety. Most respondents listen to the radio in the morning and early afternoon with with the most popular program types being Situation Comedy and News. Almost halfar etime Country and Rock formats being most popular. Most respondents watch TV during prim he Internet. Respondents read a varicty of magazines, but don't read the Recommendations A national survey should be created that omits general restaurant behavior questions and replaces them with more specific questions regarding consumer perceptions of Pizza Hut restaurants and its competition. The survey should define why people go or don't go to Pizza Hut. It should define why Pizza Hut is chosen or not chosen over other restaurants. The survey also needs define Pizza Hut's position within consumers minds. Since it is difficult to collect accurate media ary research should be gathered to determine media habits of the target audience. Advertising for Pizza Hut, Inc. restaurants should include ference to an improved atmosphere since some respondents do find this fairly important. At the same time advertising should emphasize quality food, employee friendliness, and price because most customers find these attributes very important