First Pizza Hut will open in Kyiv

The European franchisee of Pizza Hut, the largest pizza restaurant chain in the world , will open its first Pizza Hut location in Kyiv in the first half of next year.

Franchisee American Restaurants (AmRest) hopes to fill the so-called middle-class restaurant niche in Ukraine.

“We should have come to Ukraine a long time ago,” said Wojciech Mroczynski, financial director of AmRest. A Dutch-registerd company, AmRest is the only franchisee of Pizza Hut and KFC brands in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Established in 2000 as a joint venture between American Retail Concepts and Yum! Brands, AmRest is a leading operator of quick and casual restaurants in Central and Eastern Europe, operating 170 restaurants in both Poland and the Czech Republic.

Finding a home

“We find that while the upscale and lowest niches of the restaurant market are already quite developed in Ukraine, the market for middle-class eateries still has lots of room for growth,” said Mroczynski.

Mroczynski said the company plans to open a few Pizza Hut restaurants in the biggest Ukrainian cities within the next couple of years, but he would not go into details about how much money will be invested.

He did say, though, that the company has a very optimistic view of its expansion in Ukraine.

“When it comes to Pizza Hut in Poland, it is a leading restaurant chain in its segment, which is quick-service restaurants,” said Mroczynski. He added, “this is anything but a fast food.”

“In Ukraine, it is a good time for this market now, and we have to be here.”

Pizza Hut in Poland positions itself as a casual dining restaurant with table and take-away service plus phone delivery with menu items ranging from pizzas to pastas, salads, appetizers and desserts, said Mroczynski.

AmRest operates 43 Pizza Hut restaurants in Poland, which generated approximately 30 percent of AmRest’s total sales, according to his numbers.

If Pizza Hut is successful here, Mroczynski said the company will also bring to Ukraine their totally new restaurant concept – Western Rodeo Drive – which will be introduced in Poland this coming January.

Mroczynski said the company has no plans to establish KFC in Ukraine in the next two years.

Ukrainian independent restaurant experts say the success of Pizza Hut will depend largely on how it will position itself on the market and on what is meant by a “middle-class eatery.”

“Pizza Hut is a brand known worldwide and, considering that pizzerias are the most popular restaurants in Kyiv right now, it should find its customers,” said Olha Nasonova, a restaurant consultant“However, they will have more chances to conquer the market if they compete with Chelentano restaurants, which currently do not have competitors in their price category, rather than with, for instance, Il Patio,” said Nasonova. She said if an average bill per person in Pizza Hut exceeds 40 hryvnas, it will have to compete with all the Italian eateries in Kyiv.