An Old Innovation Whose Time Has Come

Food prices are through the roof. Consumers are cutting back on dining out. On the corporate side, growth is slowing. At a time like this, there may only be one answer: More cheese, please.

That’s the approach of one of the biggest pizza chains in the world, which recently added stuffed-crust pizza to its menu for the first time ever. To be sure, the innovation isn’t the extra cheese as much as it is the timing, say experts. After holding out on the stuffed-crust trend for three decades, the chain’s decision to add it to the menu creates buzz among people desperate for deals—loyal and new customers alike. Or, as Chris Von Der Ahe, a senior client partner in the Consumer Markets practice at Korn Ferry, put it: “Consumers, especially younger ones, see stuffed-crust pizza as an indulgent offering they can afford.

To be sure, it can be hard to figure out consumer tastes, and the stuffed-crust craze could end overnight. But to date, stuffed-crust pizza has added hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue for pizza chains, experts say. The trend also aligns with a recent development in consumer behavior in which longtime customers leave brands for more affordable options or perceived value. (Not offering a stuffed crust can cost pizza chains millions in customers, analysts say.) In that way, even though stuffed-crust pizza is a retro trend, “it can foster engagement and loyalty while providing a new experience with the brand,” says Peri Hansen, leader of the Consumer Products sector and Marketing Officers practice in North America for Korn Ferry.

Other companies are also focusing on timing their innovations to market trends faster. Brands—particularly large, established ones that are losing customers to more agile competitors—are all looking to cut product-development timelines down, says Alexandra Blakeslee Hartwell, a principal in the Food and Agribusiness practice at Korn Ferry. She says companies are using AI in research and development to derive deeper insights that will allow them to segment consumers and shape new products to target them more quickly. “One of the big themes in innovation is using AI to capitalize on trends quickly,” says Hartwell

Innovation doesn’t just have to be around products either, says Adam Rosner, a principal in the Travel, Hospitality and Leisure practice at Korn Ferry. In crowded markets with large legacy brands, getting to scale quickly is crucial—driving sales by revamping customer-loyalty programs, marketing promotions, seamless experiences, and more. “It’s innovation combined with value and convenience that provides the differentiators and keeps you top of mind,” he says. 

Hansen agrees, adding that in addition to playing into what she calls the “treat culture” trend, stuffed-crust pizza taps into the prevailing anxiety people have about the economic and geopolitical environments. “People migrate to comfort food in times of uncertainty and stress,” she says. Using teenagers and college kids to illustrate her point—18-to-25-year-olds order more pizza annually than any other demographic—she adds, “What’s more comforting than sharing a stuffed-crust pizza in the basement or dorm-room lounge with friends?”

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