This Chart Shows How Badly Eagle Boys Crashed And Burned

Last week, Australian pizza chain Eagle Boys entered into voluntary administration which is usually a death knell for struggling businesses. If you’re wondering why this once-dominant franchise is in danger of shutting down, the following chart from Roy Morgan Research paints a pretty stark picture.

Roy Morgan Research recently compared how the major players in the Australian pizza market have been tracking over the last five years. As you can see in the graph below, Domino’s customer numbers have gone from strength to strength, while Eagle Boys has taken a sharp nose dive.

“In the 12 months to March 2016, almost 5 million Australians aged 14+ visited/ordered from a pizza shop at least once in an average four weeks. But although the size of the overall pizza-eating population didn’t change dramatically, where they got their pizza from did,” Roy Morgan explained in an accompanying blog post.

“Back in 2012, 1.8 million people dined on Domino’s Pizza, 1 million ate Pizza Hut and 850,000 opted for Eagle Boys Pizza at least once in any given four weeks. Fast forward to 2016, and Domino’s Pizza is up to 2.3 million customers but the other two aren’t looking so good.”

Pizza wars: visitation of Australia’s pizza chains, April 2012-March 2016

Over the past few years it closed half of its outlets around the country and has been embroiled in several pay disputes with employees and franchisee owners. A buyout by NBC Capital was also thought to hurt the franchise, with the new owners allegedly cutting back on advertising and flyers.

By contrast, Domino’s has tightened its stranglehold on the market via aggressive pricing, clever marketing and a string of technological innovations. If Eagle Boys manages to find a buyer, its new owners will need to take a long, hard look at Domino’s business strategy.

[Via Roy Morgan]