He declined to provide any numbers on Georgie Pie sales, saying that information was commercially sensitive. Wilson said the introduction of the pie brand had resulted in only minimal "cannibalisation" of McDonald's other products, such as burgers. Cannibalisation occurs when a retailer introduces a new product, or store, that takes away sales of the company's existing products. McDonald's said that from October 21, eight stores in Gisborne, Wellington, Hawkes Bay and the Bay of Plenty would be used as "seeding restaurants" to train regional staff and test distribution of the product.
The company will then begin distributing the pie ovens, manufactured by Christchurch firm Moffat, to the remaining restaurants as the equipment becomes available. Now Georgie Pie is back — in a limited fashion, at least. The test will enable the company to evaluate the product from a number of angles: operational efficiency, business impacts, product mix and customer reaction. Just how complementary remains to be seen.
The company recruited former Georgie Pie general manager Brian Popham to consult on the product research and development process, and is producing the product on the original Georgie Pie production line in Mangere, now owned by Goodman Fielder. The whole process has taken two years and Patrick Wilson says that the only significant change to the original recipe was the removal of added monosodium glutamate.
The pies are produced with part-cooked fillings and flash frozen before being delivered to restaurants. Each restaurant then bakes on site, which has necessitated the installation of special computer-controlled cooking and warming ovens.
This presents a new set of challenges to operators, admits Patrick Wilson — pie preparation time is 30 minutes, as opposed to the maximum 6 minutes of any product in the current range, so forecasting of demand is essential. This is somewhat off-set by the increased hold time, which may be up to two hours although many other pie operators hold for double that period or even more. At That afternoon we installed another two ovens and the second day was very successful. A lot of customers came back for more and there was no wait for the product.
After a spell as project manager deploying IT initiatives throughout the Asia Pacific region, he fulfilled his dream of becoming a franchisee himself.
As a franchisee testing the product, my role is to get involved and gain first-hand knowledge of the impact on my business and what my customers are saying. There are five franchisees involved in the trial and it gives us a lot more understanding when we look at the data and have to decide whether to roll it out nationally.
Visit image gallery to purchase the image. Now you can be the one and only Kiwi to own the very last box of Georgie Pies. Here is your chance to grab the last ever box of 42 frozen Georgie Pies. The winner will be asked to collect their winning Georgie Pie box from their nearest McDonald's around the country. Georgie Pie was one of New Zealand's biggest fast-food stores from the time its first restaurant opened in Kelston, West Auckland, in The Kiwi restaurant closed in , before the bakery item relaunched seven years ago under McDonald's new menu items.
The last ever box of 42 frozen Georgie Pies.
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