Donatos: Research PlanningTristan Field

Mohammed Rahman

Background

• Donatos is a pizza restaurant chain• 200 restaurants in five states.• Previously owned by McDonalds,

Boston Market, and Chipotle Mexican Grill.

Exploration Phase - Internal

• Email Comments

• “WASSUP” meetings

• McDonalds/ Boston Market/ Chipotle Mexican Grill

Exploration Phase - External

• Yankelovich Monitor

• NPD Eating Trends• Monitors eating trends and popularity

• 2003 Healthy Focus Trend Report• 26% of eaters were “carb aware”.

Exporation Phase - External

• Valen Group• 28% of all Americans were watching their intake of carbohydrates.

• Atkins Diet

• South Beach Diet

Research Question

• Is the low-carb diet a flash fad or a trend - and should we respond?

Factors

• Product• Message• Weather• Competition• Reputation• Eating Habits

• The most important factor

Hypothesis

• People wanting to eat low-carbohydrates can do so without changing their pizza topping preference.

Data Collection & Preparation

• Target Audience:• Carbohydrate Conscious Consumers

Sampling Plan

• Taste Testing• Uniqueness• Brand Fit• Price Attractiveness• Likelihood of Purchase• Quality

Sampling Plan• Surveys

• In restaurant• Self-administered intercept survey• Delivery customers

• Call back phone survey• Wilkerson and Associates

• Telephone Tracking (quarterly)• 600 to 800 Adults

• Other Data Collection• Customer E-mail• Comment Cards

Analysis• Two products in development

• Low-Carb Crust• Not Appealing during taste testing

• No Dough• Incremental Business• Development took 6.5 months instead of typical 12-14 month period

• More visits from regular customers• New Market Segment:

• Gluten Free Market

Reporting• Low carb crust proved unsuccessful due to poor taste

• No Dough proved some success with taste and incremental business

• Opened a new target market in the Gluten-Free Market

• Providing the same pizza with the only change being the crust proves hypothesis.

Today

• Current Pizza Products• Thin Crust• Thicker Crust• Hand Tossed• Bakery - cooked at home• Flatbread• No Dough

Eating Habit: Factors

• Calorie counting diets• Fat counting diets• Carbohydrate counting diets• Combination diet

Recommendation

• Survey Concerns• Did they reach their Target Audience?

• They only surveyed existing customers• Did they miss people that wanted to eat pizza, but avoided it altogether due to their diet?

• Sampling plan should have reached a population of dieters, not just existing pizza consumers.

Questions?