Kotipizza spent 57,000 euros on an advertisement in which it was reported that it has distributed free pizza to food delivery people. The pizzas cost a fraction of the money spent on advertising.
Home pizza bought an entire open advertising spot in Helsingin Sanomat’s print magazine published on Wednesday. The advertising space is the most expensive advertising space in the print magazine, list prices with a value of approximately 57,000 euros.
In the ad, Kotipizza talked about its campaign organized on Monday, where it distributed 420 pizzas for free to food consignors “without looking at the color of the thermal bag”. In the advertisement, it also took a stand on the work of food couriers.
“Ordering restaurant food delivered to your destination is such a nice thing that it would seem stupid to spoil it by fooling around,” the advertisement reads.
The chain spent about ten times the amount of money for one ad compared to the pizza giveaway itself. The pizzas alone, calculated at a unit price of 14 euros, would have cost the chain less than 6,000 euros. The chain doesn’t say the exact amount, so it’s an estimate. The actual costs of pizzas can be significantly lower than the chain’s price list.
Kotipizza distributed 420 free pizzas to food delivery people in its advertising campaign.
The price of one ad is thus many times higher than the price of pizzas.
CEO of Kotipizza Group Heidi Stirkkinen according to that, the effectiveness of the rapture cannot be judged by the amount of euros spent on it. According to him, the essential thing is how much you are able to arouse discussion and interest with the drawing.
HS news on Monday for the seizure, which seems like a clear receipt for the food delivery service Foodora and Wolt. Courier companies have changed the operating principles of the industry.
Kotipizza does not use the courier services in question, but has its own transport systems. Kotipizza’s companies receive income from both servings and home delivery of pizzas.
Wolt and Foodora have received negative publicity when HS published an investigative story about the problems of the industry and the dark labor market.
The ad is a clear receipt for Wolt and Foodora, which have received negative publicity. Is this foxing the competitors?
“We are not foxes for a competitor. We are in dialogue with the operators in question. All in all, we want to maintain the idea that we are here together for the industry. It’s not our way of doing things to beat a competitor.”
According to Stirkkinen, Kotipizza’s dispatchers work in franchise companies. According to him, it is very typical that the same people do all tasks in restaurants, from making pizzas to customer service and transportation. In larger companies, some may be more specialized in certain tasks.
For this reason, a salary is also paid for the messenger jobs in accordance with the collective agreement of the tourism and restaurant services (Mara). In practice, the salary is based on the monthly salary or hours worked.
Is advertising about promoting one’s position?
“It is above all about wanting to act on behalf of good practices in the industry and to be involved in creating certain types of practices and standards.”
Also Kotipizza has received bad publicity. In 2014, several former entrepreneurs and those who worked as entrepreneurs at the time of writing accused the chain of unreasonable contract terms, lack of money and poor management In the case of HS.
Are the contract terms of your entrepreneurs fair at the moment?
“Are fair because they are based on the ethical rules of the Finnish Franchise Association.”
In 2014, it was reported that Kotipizza collects 10.5 percent of the company’s sales from marketing and franchising fees from entrepreneurs. The percentage in question has remained the same. In addition, nowadays entrepreneurs pay an IT operating system fee. The payment in question is not percentage-based.
Stirkkinen according to, after 2014, the operation has been developed. In 2016, the chain founded an entrepreneurial cooperative for the development of dialogue between entrepreneurs and the chain. The purpose is also that entrepreneurs can better bring things up, says Stirkkinen.
In addition to this, the company commissions an annual survey, with which the company tries to find out, among other things, whether the entrepreneurs are satisfied with their franchise agreement. The survey is carried out by an external party.
“Today, I can very honestly say that the entrepreneurial community is satisfied with this cooperation and being an entrepreneur and feels that the franchise agreement is good.”
Read more: “He was resting at home, I was working” – HS’s report reveals that behind Wolt and Foodora there is shady business
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