REBORN

in Chile

Food Delivery Brands adds a complete digital strategy to its strengths, supported by global brands Pizza Hut and Telepizza, disrupting the food delivery market in Chile and the entire territory

Produced by Jassen Pintado

Written by Mateo Rafael Tablado

Creative Direction

Omar Rodríguez

Interviewee DDavid Vera, CEO for Fod Delivery Brands in Chile

Food Delivery Brands (FDB) is a world-class company operating different pizza brands mainly focused on delivery with presence in 32 countries. The holding was created in 2018 and is not only in charge of the Spanish chain Telepizza -which for decades has run successful operations in its home country as well as overseas into the Americas-, but has also established a partnership with Yum! Brands -formerly Tricon Global Restaurants (grouping KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell)-, becoming in charge of the Pizza Hut master franchise for Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula, encompassing Mexico, Central and South America, Spain and Portugal. FDB also operates the Apache Pizza and Jeno’s Pizza chains, from Ireland and Colombia, respectively. This is a total of 2,300 locations creating 45,000 jobs. In Latin America alone the holding owns more than 1,800 restaurants.

As the master franchise for Pizza Hut and Telepizza in Latin America, the rest of the countries in the territory operate as sub-franchisors, obtaining support from FDB as the company in charge of Pizza Hut in Latin America, besides operating their own locations.

Pizza Hut is undergoing a transformation of its presence in the coveted delivery market without leaving behind the traditional dining experience at its locations.

Food Delivery Brands In Chile

The precedent of FDB in Chile dates back to 1992, when Telepizza first set foot in the country, as the brand expanded from Spain onto the Americas. The partnership with Pizza Hut in 2019 transformed FDB into the number one master franchise in Chile and the world with both this and the Telepizza brands. Telepizza is available in 34 Chilean cities, as Pizza Hut has locations in 21 cities.

FDB built a sourdough production plant to provide the frozen ingredient to be distributed to each location. Since the facility’s opening in 2019, Chile has been consolidated as the company’s expansion platform, creating 900 new direct and indirect jobs. The property sits on 32,300 sq. ft. and sustains a 16.5 million dough discs per year production, becoming the largest pizza dough producer in Latin America. The plant is strategically located near Santiago’s airport, easing dough distribution to Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru in the same way the plant located in Queretaro, Mexico, supplies all of Mexico and the Southern United States.

“We believe in product quality, we’re obsessed with the quality of each of our brands following our standards”, commented David Vera, CEO for Food Delivery Brands in Chile.

A FULLY-EXPERIENCED CAREER IN THE INDUSTRY

David Vera’s experience in the busy mass-consumption food delivery industry in large chains is not only backed by his education after obtaining a bachelor’s degree and an MBA in the U.S.A., but also by his more than 23-year experience in the delivery and fast food industry in global chains such as Papa John’s also in the States, where he got to become district manager, besides developing the brand in Panama.

Vera also worked in the LatAm territory for the Cinnabon baked goods chain and was recruited by

Drake Food Service International, the largest Papa John’s franchisee, globally, based in Chile, as COO in charge of operational excellence across the Central and South America territories, as well as in seven countries in Europe.

Among further postgraduate studies, his diploma courses in Digital Transformation (completed at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile) and in Disruptive Strategies (from Harvard University) stand out.

Boosting The Delivery Factor

After the development of new players in the fast-food industry and events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the offer in the food delivery market transformed. With pizza positioned as a standard within the food delivery tradition, other food options aiming to continue operating under the pandemic restrictions were forced to take part in this modality, thus increasing the competition within

CREEMOS EN LA CALIDAD DEL PRODUCTO, estamos obsesionados con la calidad de cada una de nuestras marcas siguiendo nuestros estándares the delivery industry and prompting restaurants and chains with no delivery fleets and infrastructure to partner with food delivery apps.

For this matter, Pizza Hut didn’t remain far behind, as it continues to offer a dine-in experience, take-out and delivery, and is also undergoing a transformation to keep up with the same technology used between consumers and established lastmile delivery companies, improved with features able to offer a unique experience such as real-time video into each order’s elaboration from start until it leaves for delivery.

“One of the relevant aspects of delivery is to have an e-commerce platform up to date with current times. We invested to deploy the kind of technology used by aggregators, and when customers enter our website and order, they can track their order,” Vera pointed out.

The Power Of Transformation

To improve the delivery experience

Pizza Hut is able to offer currently in Chile and, soon enough, in the rest of Latin American markets through digital platforms, it has been crucial to work with tools capable of interconnecting each part involved in the process.

Dragontail Systems optimizes preparation, delivery and customer contact processes, guaranteeing increased productivity in the kitchen, reducing delivery costs and offering a faster response, which results in improving the customers’ satisfaction, as they now are in contact with the entire purchase cycle.

To guarantee quality, each process is under surveillance after deploying the KWALI platform, the Silicon Valley company specializes in AI and robotics. After results from pilot programs in Chile, the platform will take part in operations in every other market within the territory.

“This is the tech we want: finding out about product quality, about delivery service and offering customers 360º order tracking,” the executive added.

Maintaining Competitivity Across The Value Chain

FDB restaurants didn’t go unscathed from the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and from the consequences derived from recent conflicts over supply chains, globally.

To maintain competitiveness and to assure ingredient procurement, the company engages in significant efforts to which both local and global strategic purveyors align.

FDB is already working in the development of local suppliers in order to keep operations free from any affectation due to long transits for raw materials, and to keep counting on important high-quality products such as flour, by achieving a local mix meeting such standards to be exported to other FDB locations in the region.

On their behalf, global purveyors in charge of supplying important resources such as meat products and dairy -Tyson and Leprino, respectively- have accomplished to maintain convenient prices to avoid high costs being passed to end consumers.

“We strive to be competitive, accessible, possessing an adequate value to keep being relevant to our customers,” Vera said.

Standards And Flexibility As The Base For Corporate Culture

FDB’s vision in guaranteeing the delivery of the best product, offering the best service starts from the premise of creating an excellent experience for employees.

The company pushes for a good work-life balance for its staff by offering flexible schedules, as a large part of its workforce is formed by students, future entrepreneurs as well as parents, also allowing employees to choose a convenient location to work at.

Training is not an afterthought, considering both Pizza Hut and Telepizza are global brands, each sharing a know-how among its locations in the U.S.A., Spain, Mexico or South America, in order to maintain its high standards.

“We inspire young people to work by offering them multiple benefits. We want them to grow, we want their families to feel proud about one of its members becoming part of a company that supports them,” the executive remarked.

Regarding inclusion, FDB efficiently complies with Law 21.105, which establishes companies in Chile’s workforce must include at least 1% of individuals with disabilities. Currently, FDB works with 20 such employees in Chile and, in the same way, the corporation complies with current labor laws in the rest of the markets it has presence at.

Resources To Achieve Success In A Very Profitable Market

FDB is facing quite a challenge in Chile by competing with other global and domestic brands for a significant market share. Nevertheless, the company possesses the resources and finds itself in a position able to deliver successful outcomes: its solid agreements with Pizza Hut and Telepizza as brands sharing a wide expertise, as well as the Chilean market, which boasts a 2.7 pizzas per month, per person purchase frequency.

FDB will continue with its digitization process, which has resulted in improving the customer experience, relying on the advantage of its own delivery fleet and app, without involving any third party to guarantee an excellent service. This renovation also encompasses

Pizza Hut Chile será uno de los líderes y un diferenciador en un mercado como el chileno, QUE ES EL MÁS

Competitivo Que Hay En Latinoam Rica

location, packaging, communication and e-commerce channels rebranding.

Keeping up to date with the times also means offering an inclusive menu with options for different types of diets, such as more vegan products and low in certain ingredients, also considering maintaining competitive prices and a delivery service with tech to make it easy, accessible and available in every digital channel.

“Our upcoming endeavors will drive us to a leadership position and to become a disrupting force in the Chilean market, the most competitive in Latin America,” finalized David Vera, CEO for Food Delivery Brands in Chile.

FOUNDED: 2018

EMPLOYEES: 45,000 (a nivel global)

CONTACT: www.fooddeliverybrands.com david.vera@fooddeliverybrands.com