Kiwis name NZ’s favourite takeaway

With a score of 92 percent, Hell Pizza received the highest rating of all Quick Service Restaurants included in Roy Morgan Research’s recent Customer Satisfaction Survey. Hell beat long-time category winner Burger Fuel by one percentage point.

Roy Morgan Research CEO Michele Levine said the two Kiwi-owned and operated businesses have always jostled for the crown.

‘It’s long been a closely fought battle at the top of the Quick Service Restaurant category. Notably, both the long-time leader Burger Fuel and first-time winner Hell Pizza are local Kiwi businesses. An in-depth knowledge of what local consumers want is something that international fast food giants appear to be lacking,’ said Ms Levine.

More than 6,500 Kiwis were surveyed by RMR and respondents were split into seven food segments: House Proud, Trendsetters, Entertainers, Old-fashioned Cooks, Zappits, Take-it-aways and Just Feed Me.  

With a wide-ranging menu that regularly features new additions and a quality delivery service, it’s probably not surprising that Hell’s biggest fans were in the Take-it-aways segment, with nearly one in four claiming to be regular customers of the 666 percent Kiwi-owned franchise.

RMR defines the group as preferring takeaways over home cooking any day of the week, with taste their top priority.

Credit to franchisees

Hell general manager Ben Cumming credited the win to the hard work of franchisees across the chain’s 69 stores nationwide.

‘This really is a testament to the effort and enthusiasm they’ve invested into both their staff and their service to customers,’ said Mr Cumming. ‘We’ve definitely noticed a steady improvement in store operations over the past few years and our own internal measures support that. We’re really proud of what they’ve been doing and it’s great to see that the public has recognised it, too.’

Over the past three years, Hell has put considerable emphasis on franchisee engagement, overhauled its staff training programme, and upgraded systems at store level, which has seen the franchisee satisfaction rating increase to over 80 percent and group sales increase by 36 percent.

 Mr Cumming said that he believed the results of these efforts are now being enjoyed by customers.

‘In addition to that, I think customers appreciate the quality of our free-range products and the fact that we’re not afraid to present them with new and interesting experiences, such as lambs’ brains, rabbit, and fireworks.'

And in a dig at Domino's, he added, ‘It just goes to show that you can’t get to pizza lovers’ hearts by way of remote-controlled drones.’