Eagle Boys founder calls new owners' policies 'genocide'

posted on 14th September 2016

The Eagle Boys franchise in Australia entered Voluntary Administration earlier this year following a long period of decline under the ownership of private equity firm NBC Capital. Existing Eagle Boys franchisees have been vocal about the perilous state of their businesses. Now Tom Potter, the original founder of the business, has spoken out about the mis-management of the franchise under its new ownership and the changes it made to the core business which he said were ultimately 'genocide' to the business's franchisees. The full article makes compelling reading. (NB. the Eagle Boys operation in New Zealand was sold to Restaurant Brands in 2000 and absorbed into Pizza Hut)

He said once the new ownership and management took control they began to implement significant multiple changes to all aspects of the business along with the core marketing strategies of Eagle Boys, and in his opinion, these changes were ultimately 'genocide' to the business’s franchisees.

This included increasing prices and an attempt to re-position the company as a gourmet pizza brand, which only resulted in alienating long term loyal customers.

According to Tom, Eagle Boys’ key family target market who was interested in its $20 value meal became alienated and sales started to decline rapidly.

He explained that gourmet food is only a small percentage of the overall take-away food market at 5%, while fast food accounts for 60%, budget food 25% and QSR (Quick Service Restaurants) 10%.

In Tom’s eyes, another major mistake that the new Eagle Boys management made was replacing its ‘2 minute guarantee or it’s free’ commitment by watering it down to ‘2 minute express when it’s available’, and discontinuing the marketing altogether, which resulted in stores falling behind the expected standard and customers waiting longer.