Real reason Eagle Boys disappeared in Australia
Real reason Eagle Boys disappeared in Australia
It was once a fixture of the Australian fast food scene, but Eagle Boys Pizza’s success ended in a $30 million collapse that wiped the pink and white boxes off our streets.
At its peak, the brand boasted 340 stores across the country. But by 2016, the eagle had landed for the last time, leaving behind a trail of debt.
Here’s why the nation’s third largest pizza chain came crashing down.
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At its peak, Eagle Boys Pizza boasted 340 stores across Australia.
Eagle Boys’ rise to fast food empire
Tom Potter founded Eagle Boys when he was 23 in 1987. He opened his first pizza store in Albury, New South Wales with a $70,000 loan from his mother, Barbara.
He left high school at age 15 to begin an apprenticeship at Defiance Flour Mills, a Queensland business.
After the first store opened, Mr Potter expanded his business operations across Australia, reaching Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, the ACT, and the Northern Territory.
In the mid-2000s, the company further spread internationally to New Zealand and Fiji.
After 20 years of success, Mr Potter sold the franchise to Queensland-based private equity firm NBC Capital.
At that time, Eagle Boys had more than 200 stores in Australia, 60 in New Zealand and had opened in Fiji.
Tom Potter, founder of Eagle Boys Pizza.
The pizza war that ended Eagle Boys
Eagle Boys’ demise began when the pizza chain was locked in an aggressive price war with its bigger rivals.
Domino’s and Pizza Hut launched $4.95 deals, which put Eagle Boys back into a corner.
Lacking the massive scale of its competitors, the brand struggled to survive on thin profit margins and faced financial difficulties.
Domino’s also started investing in online ordering and digital tracking as a phone app that made ordering easy for customers. The move led to cutting delivery times and improving consistency.
At the same time, Pizza Hut refreshed their brand and started offering combo deals and promotions that appealed to a broader market.
With its rivals levelling up, Eagle Boys found it difficult to keep up.
The pizza chain was locked in an aggressive price war with its bigger rivals.
The eagle landed for the last time
During a five-year period, Eagle Boys experienced significant difficulties, with nearly half of its stores shutting down in 2014-15.
By 2016, Eagle Boys entered voluntary administration, owing $30 million to creditors.
Pizza Hut acquired the franchise and converted more than 50 of the remaining stores.
Thirteen years after offloading his Eagle Boys chain, Mr Potter opened the first Pizza Guardians outlet in Toowoomba.
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