After reading Jeremy Stickland’s blog post about an American pizza company’s plans for expansion in Canada, I wondered if their points of difference would be enough for them to overcome all of the competition that is already present. Papa Murphy’s Pizza offers “Take ‘N’ Bake”, where pizzas are made in store and customers bake them at their own leisure.

By looking at Michael Porter’s 5 Forces Diagram, we can exemplify the type of competition that this company might face during its growth and imagine what may have been discussed in the adjustment of their business plan. In my opinion, Papa Murphy’s will likely struggle with brand identity issues initially, considering only about 15 if its stores exist in Canada. This is an issue associated with Barriers for Entry and Buyer Power. Furthermore, in terms of Buyer power, another question begs asking: why did they decide to expand on Canada’s west coast before focusing on the more populated east coast? As well as placing locations in areas like Surrey and suburbs of Edmonton rather than in the hearts of major cities (where a greater opportunity for promoting the company exists)? Threats of Substitutes include not choosing the Take ‘N’ Bake option and having regular take-out/delivery options – of which there are many with great reputations that exist.

http://business.financialpost.com/2012/10/01/trying-to-take-a-bigger-bite-of-the-pizza-pie/

http://www.biv.com/article/20120904/BIV0106/120909995/-1/BIV/take-8216-n-8217-bake-pizza-chain-charts-huge-expansion

http://www.canadianpizzamag.com/content/view/4457/132/