TORONTO — Pizza Pizza Royalty Corp. has reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021.
“On balance, our Q1 results demonstrated our brands’ resilience during these turbulent times. The pandemic first impacted our sales in mid-March 2020, so the current quarter is lapping a mostly, pre-pandemic quarter. Recurring virus waves and lockdowns continued affecting important sales channels, particularly walk-in sales and our non-traditional sales, including business catering,” says Paul Goddard, CEO, Pizza Pizza Corp. “While we continue to follow all government-mandated dining restrictions, we had great success with our delivery promotions, specifically our pizza and Uno card-game promotion, bringing food and fun together for at-home enjoyment. Additionally, in the first quarter of the year, we ramped up new-restaurant constructions and renovations to take advantage of retail space availability as we expect an accelerated vaccination program will drive consumer confidence as the year progresses.”
The total system sales for the quarter has decreased compared to the same quarter last year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the increase in delivery sales at Pizza Pizza and Pizza 73 locations have partially offset this reduction. Specifically, system sales from 725 restaurants in the royalty pool dropped 13.9 per cent to $108.2 million from $125.7 million last year with 749 restaurants. By brand, sales from 622 Pizza Pizza restaurants decreased by 14.2 per cent to $90.2 million and 103 Pizza 73 restaurants decreased 12.5 per cent to $18 million.
In addition, the same store-sales growth (SSSG) dropped by 13.3 per cent due to changes in customer traffic, compared to 6.6 per cent last year.
Accounting for 24 restaurant closures, there are currently 622 Pizza Pizza restaurants and 103 Pizza 73 restaurants in Canada. The company expects construction to continue across Canada for the remainder of 2021, with a focus on restaurant network expansion and increased renovations.
