They were very secretive about what was moving in. No one would say anything to us even when we asked. Didn't even bother to say hello. We are small small shopping Street filled with Mom and Pop shops that have been here generations. There are no other chains restaurants in the entire area. And they chose to literally move in across the street from us. Has anybody else dealt with this?
by Craft_Beer_Imazato
36 Comments
You’ll be ok. People will realize it’s junk
Yeah, it’s really not even close to an outstanding pizza.
Quality pizza with attention to ingredients and preparation will always win when compared to a competitor’s fast food variant.
I have visited Osaka in the past and the photo of the shopping area looks very familiar to me. I may have been there during my trip.
Pizza Hut doesn’t even use 100% real cheese, they use a “cheese product”. You should be just fine.
If only I had known.. I would have been down to devour those pies
Moving in next door is an intentional strategy that big chains use
Haven’t had a Hut pizza in over 10 years, but I remember that I liked their pan pizzas.
Pizza Hut hasn’t been good since the 1970s
By the way, I know that their logo looks like a HAT 👒, and maybe its their way of a play on words, but their name is Pizza HUT; as in a dwelling to eat pizza.
get ’em . Ireland says good luck
We always choose small, local over chains. And there are 3 right near us.
Three things:
1) Pizza Hut isn’t AS bad as people tend to say.
2) That doesn’t make it good.
3) There’s no way a place that was voted as the best pizza in Osaka has anything to fear from a Pizza Hut of all places.
https://preview.redd.it/zwfp9qp7txxf1.jpeg?width=1078&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a2000ca664af6feeb8a916f14c2123443dfdb4c6
Nobody out pizzas the Hat.
Probably lose some and gain some traffic because of this. Going to have to wait to see what the bottom line shows. I’m guessing, for sure, I know absolutely zero about Osaka or any specifics of your area. Props on the pizza for sure! Looks great!
Give us an update in 6 months. Curiosity: Estimation of your customers: new vs return?
That’s a great looking pie right there.
Sad part is they will suck revenue that could possibly be coming your way…. until they grenade from crappy pizza.
Go get em! The ceiling on quality for you is a lot higher and they can’t adapt or react to whatever moves you make.
pizza hut is trash. theyll try it once and regret it and come back to you
Are you Slices?
Pizza Hut is over salted crap
Oof. A good lawyer would have made sure there was a non compete clause in your lease. Sorry you’re going through that
Start a program that rewards kids with free pizza for reading so many books. Pizza Hut used to (maybe still do) do this with personal pan pizzas, called Book It.
13 years in business and I’ve had a similar thing happen twice! Match their specials or beat them if you can.
In my town there’s a Dominos literally across the street from a satellite Frank Pepe’s (for context, the original Frank Pepe’s has a strong claim to being the best pizza in America)
I love that you call it Pizza Hat.
“bring a half-eaten pizza from across the street and an apology note for making that mistake, get a free drink”
It’s maddening if you’re an owner, but this is pretty typical in biz. Put a toy store near a toy store, grocery near a grocery etc. You’ll probably get more pizza-hungry foot traffic now, and keep your quality. And get a fan blowing your smells right out there. Hahah.
Are they trying to undercut you on price?
In general, The big pizza chains here in Japan tend to be rather expensive. Then they offer deals that look tempting. With that said though. We have a lunch takeout for ¥750. And they’re opening day special there now offering their lunch takeout for the same price. Coincidence, I don’t think so.
People who don’t care about quality and want fast and cheap will pick Pizza Hat.
You are in Osaka. Pizza Hat will fail.
Pizza Hut in Asia is cracked. I’d be a little worried ngl
Pizza Hut and local, high quality pizza places play to totally different markets. Pizza Hut might do well on the delivery market but literally no one who wants good pizza would suddenly change their mind because they saw a Pizza Hut across from your place. Not to mention Pizza Hut doesn’t do slices and I’m guessing yours does? So you’d dominate the foot traffic market too.
You have Craft Beer! Case closed. Offer half off pints from 3pm -6pm with purchase of a pizza.
Then do a Happy Hour close, 1/2 off pints with pizza purchase from 9pm- midnight etc. when Pizza Slut opens for three first 3-4 months.
the Hotelling Effect in economics tends to suggest that it’s rational for shops selling similar goods to cluster. This is always rough for the business that becomes the one the others cluster around – in this case the entrant will skim off a good proportion of the customers who don’t discriminate much by product quality. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotelling's_law?wprov=sfti1
You do what you do, and you make the better pizzas like you always have
I would also bet that it is more likely to have a long-term positive effect on your business. People may initially come to do take out from them because they are familiar with the name, but considering that their pizza isn’t super cheap in Japan, many of them will see your place and want to try it if they were unfamiliar with it before. There will always be customers who take out from them for the sake of convenience for things like catering office lunches, so they may also do okay, but I think that those people are often just choosing between big chain restaurants that have online ordering sites bookmarked in their browser that they choose between.
On a side note, the name of your store sounded familiar so I checked my google maps and it was listed as one of my “want to go” places. Will definitely try the next time I’m over in Osaka!