Companies That You Expect to Disappear Soon

[brad465]

It always amazes me that Pizza Express does so well - prices have gone up and quality down. I've seen quite a few Pizza Express branches right next to really good proper Italian places (which are always full, with the neighbouring PE resembling a graveyard)

Royals needing alibis must be big business

 

[route101]

I have been avoiding takeaway franchise places of late like Papa Johns, Pepes etc. I feel like you don't always get a great product.

 

[jon81uk]

Dominos standard crust leaves me bloated and uncomfortable. It’s ok if I remember to turn to thin and crispy. But £20 for a pizza is Almost criminal.

Dominos almost always have a deal, you can get a pizza and some sides for the £20 and that price has barely changed in twenty years.

 

[Peter Sarf]

I agree, but whereas it used to be mostly only pizzas that could be delivered, Just-Eat and the like means every food place can now deliver, or even dark kitchens on an industrial estate with even less overheads and perhaps more questionable food storage and preparation conditions (hygiene inspections are still playing catch up after Covid and now there are loads of new places to check).

Given the cost of ordering in, I'm surprised so many people do it but perhaps people are working extra hard to earn a living and as a result are too tired to cook.

Ironically, if it costs £30+ to order in for a family, that's a lot of money compared to going to the supermarket and buying the equivalent meal (Tesco for one now has an aisle with all the key fast food offerings like pizza, fried chicken, Indian and Chinese).

I know a hard up family. Then I discovered they were getting delivered meals every day. I suggested they cook. Oh no I don't know how to cook was the answer.

I feel cheated with thin & crispy. Give me deep pan any day & I’ll worry about the after effects if or when they happen.

Terrible. Its not real Italian Pizza unless its thin crust. The Americans corrupted Pizza by going for a throbbing piece of bread. But each to their own.

 

[Iskra]

It always amazes me that Pizza Express does so well - prices have gone up and quality down. I've seen quite a few Pizza Express branches right next to really good proper Italian places (which are always full, with the neighbouring PE resembling a graveyard)

I don't understand why anyone goes to a chain Italian, independents are usually better and no more expensive.

Dominos almost always have a deal, you can get a pizza and some sides for the £20 and that price has barely changed in twenty years.

Most independent takeaways will do the same for 60% of the price or even under, so not really a deal, but that's how they get you...

 

[Typhoon]

I don't understand why anyone goes to a chain Italian, independents are usually better and no more expensive.


Most independent takeaways will do the same for 60% of the price or even under, so not really a deal, but that's how they get you...

An independent lives and dies on the quality and value for money of the food they sell. Chains - advertising, advertising, advertising - and hype. We must be due a flyer from Dominos any time soon, we haven't had one since well before Christmas, and at least two local bus shelters have large ads for McDs.

 

[dk1]

Terrible. Its not real Italian Pizza unless its thin crust. The Americans corrupted Pizza by going for a throbbing piece of bread. But each to their own.

I detest absolutely everything American until it comes to pizza. Salivating just thinking about it.

 

[Peter Sarf]

An independent lives and dies on the quality and value for money of the food they sell. Chains - advertising, advertising, advertising - and hype. We must be due a flyer from Dominos any time soon, we haven't had one since well before Christmas, and at least two local bus shelters have large ads for McDs.

Oh yes I always prefer an independent. Now you mention it I have not had a Pizza menu through the letter box for ages !.

Maybe the best Pizza I ever had was in Lokma, Harrow-on-the-Hill. Daft to say I know but it was certainly up there.

I detest absolutely everything American until it comes to pizza. Salivating just thinking about it.

I could murder a Pizza right now. It aint just cheese on toast. It better be Mozzarella - not the Monterey Jack blended with Cheddar !.

 

[richw]

Dominos almost always have a deal, you can get a pizza and some sides for the £20 and that price has barely changed in twenty years.

Just looked on the website. £24 for pizza and side deal at my local branch.
My local independent offer their most expensive flavour pizza for £9.99

 

[jon0844]

Dominos and others have crazy prices so they can do amazing deals, which get closer to what you'd pay elsewhere.

It's like Tesco and others now having the 'normal' price and the Clubcard price. In due course, the Clubcard price will be what used to be the normal price, and the normal price will have elevated to ridiculous levels to make such discounts seem impressive.

I suppose in future years, they'll need a Clubcard+ subscription offering to bring prices down even more as by then a pint of milk will have a SRP of £20 per pint.

The problem with all of these special offers to get a reasonable price is that I assume some people do just order a regular pizza and pay £17 or £18 for it, or whatever. They might not want a side, or a drink, or a second pizza for 50p.

 

[skyhigh]

I suppose in future years, they'll need a Clubcard+ subscription offering to bring prices down even more

They already do... £7.99 a month to get a further 10% discount on 2 shops a month.

 

[jon0844]

They already do... £7.99 a month to get a further 10% discount on 2 shops a month.

Oh dear God no!

 

[Peter Sarf]

Dominos and others have crazy prices so they can do amazing deals, which get closer to what you'd pay elsewhere.

It's like Tesco and others now having the 'normal' price and the Clubcard price. In due course, the Clubcard price will be what used to be the normal price, and the normal price will have elevated to ridiculous levels to make such discounts seem impressive.

I suppose in future years, they'll need a Clubcard+ subscription offering to bring prices down even more as by then a pint of milk will have a SRP of £20 per pint.

The problem with all of these special offers to get a reasonable price is that I assume some people do just order a regular pizza and pay £17 or £18 for it, or whatever. They might not want a side, or a drink, or a second pizza for 50p.

I see buy one get one free offers, in supermarkets on food and drink, where the same product is almost half the price elsewhere anyway. I try to ignore the discounts and instead focus on the final price.

 

[simonw]

Companies likely to disappear in the near future? The Post Office. (Said only partially in jest).

 

[AM9]

I suppose in future years, they'll need a Clubcard+ subscription offering to bring prices down even more as by then a pint of milk will have a SRP of £20 per pint.

That might be true but the income that same person receives will be 10+ times greater than it is today, - otherwise Tesco won't get many sales. Ignore the numbers, all prices are only releavant to the weekly/monthly income of potentiaql customers.

 

[gg1]

It's like Tesco and others now having the 'normal' price and the Clubcard price. In due course, the Clubcard price will be what used to be the normal price, and the normal price will have elevated to ridiculous levels to make such discounts seem impressive.

That's generally the case now.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Companies likely to disappear in the near future? The Post Office. (Said only partially in jest).

I had wondered !. Certainly the post office will now find there are more deaf ears around when it tries to justify itself and complain about the competition cherry picking.

That might be true but the income that same person receives will be 10+ times greater than it is today, - otherwise Tesco won't get many sales. Ignore the numbers, all prices are only releavant to the weekly/monthly income of potentiaql customers.

Ah yes, it is the nature of inflation and pay rises. People need to compare the price at any date with the average wage at the same time. Mind you it is hard for old uns like myself who remember the significantly lower prices from years gone by even though I earnt less then !. Then I hear my daughter in law saying who cares it is "only a few pounds" - back in my day it was "only pennies" !. Should this be in the "You know your getting old" thread !.

 

[dorsetdesiro]

The Post Office's reputation would be in tatters due to the Horizon scandal, it may go through a rebranding possibly with a new name "PostShop?" to begin a new chapter to regain public trust or become something like "Postbank" for everyone to do in-branch banking once many bank branches have closed their doors.

Or, it could get phased out completely with convenience stores then selling post stuff like stamps, parcels, brown tape, bubble wrap etc and dealing with government payments and delivery/collection etc.

 

[birchesgreen]

Or, it could get phased out completely with convenience stores then selling post stuff like stamps, parcels, brown tape, bubble wrap etc and dealing with government payments and delivery/collection etc.

Our local "post office" is already like that, just the end of the counter at a Select & Save.

 

[Jamiescott1]

The Post Office's reputation would be in tatters due to the Horizon scandal, it may go through a rebranding possibly with a new name "PostShop?" to begin a new chapter to regain public trust or become something like "Postbank" for everyone to do in-branch banking once many bank branches have closed their doors.

Or, it could get phased out completely with convenience stores then selling post stuff like stamps, parcels, brown tape, bubble wrap etc and dealing with government payments and delivery/collection etc.

Alot of people confuse the post office and royal mail - thinking they are one business

 

[Blindtraveler]

I don't have a problem with post office as such, my biggest issue is in fact with royal mail which is a total bloody joke,

 

[Peter Sarf]

Alot of people confuse the post office and royal mail - thinking they are one business

Yes. I have to remind myself of the fact there is the "Post Office" and "Royal Mail". Does it mean that they can blame each other ?. It is sometimes hard to decide for definite where the dividing line is. But it is a lot more obscure where BT and its parts are concerned.

 

[jon81uk]

I had wondered !. Certainly the post office will now find there are more deaf ears around when it tries to justify itself and complain about the competition cherry picking.

That’s more Royal Mail who are suffering competition with other couriers not the Post Office. Post Office are starting to sell the competing products.

Yes. I have to remind myself of the fact there is the "Post Office" and "Royal Mail". Does it mean that they can blame each other ?. It is sometimes hard to decide for definite where the dividing line is. But it is a lot more obscure where BT and its parts are concerned.

Royal Mail are a courier company who deliver post and parcels to your door. Post Office is a shop selling postage services from Royal Mail and others as well as banking and some government services.

BT is a broadband and phone service retailer who provide phone and broadband services on lines owned by Openreach. Openreach own and manage the cable or wire from the exchange to your property and many telecoms companies including Sky, Plusnet, BT and others provide services on that cable. Virgin Media and others also provide cables delivering services to properties.

 

[Kite159]

When M&S can sell two actually pretty decent pizzas and two sides for £10, you can see that Pizza delivery companies (in general) have pretty sizeable profit margins.

It's not like the poor delivery driver is getting paid a hefty chunk if it either. If they're salaried staff maybe they enjoy proper staff benefits and pay, but if they use Just-eat or the like then it's very cut throat - but the delivery companies themselves are enjoying a very nice cut no matter what. They're also forcing prices up as they sit back and let the money flood in.

Fast food has now become crazy expensive and out of the reach of many, so I assume that's the reason for the loss in revenue. Less customers isn't great when your overheads are the same or went up, so the only option appears to be to increase prices to cover the gap in sales.

I'd have thought lowering prices might help, but maybe there just aren't enough customers full stop as hple have less disposable income and high streets in many places are now swamped, albeit more likely with kebab shops that can also do pizzas of varying quality.

But, like M&S pizza meal deals and others, supermarkets now offer some decent pizzas and it's not difficult to make your own - although I don't think many people think to do that.

When you see the likes of Dominos offering 50% discounts to certain groups then you know the profit margin on the list price is large. Or even when they can offer "Size X for £Y" when the normal menu price for that pizza is nearly double Y.

I can't remember who once said it, but only a fool buys a pizza from Dominoes at full list price.

 

[route101]

When you see the likes of Dominos offering 50% discounts to certain groups then you know the profit margin on the list price is large. Or even when they can offer "Size X for £Y" when the normal menu price for that pizza is nearly double Y.

I can't remember who once said it, but only a fool buys a pizza from Dominoes at full list price.

People do though! I think its around £10 if you go to store and collect it. These so called deals still get you to spend more money though.

 

[jon0844]

People do though! I think its around £10 if you go to store and collect it. These so called deals still get you to spend more money though.

Yes, it's psychological. There comes a point where you'll think you're beating the system by taking up a deal and potentially getting extras you didn't want (and that are also dead cheap to make) so as to get better value.

All you ever wanted was a medium pizza, but now you have an XL with two sides, drink and ice cream and a smile on your face for getting one over them!

 

[McRhu]

Sadly it looks like shoogly peg time for the model rail business in general.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I wouldn’t want to imagine life without Pizza Hut or Dominos. Not fussed about Papa Johns.

Papa Johns and Domino both seem to have wild variations in quality between locations. The PJ in Taunton used to be fantastic, as did the one on Smithdown Road in Liverpool (near the old Hatton's Model Railways)... but the one in Huddersfield was terrible. Dominos in Huddersfield was really good until the head pizza cook left to set up his own independent.
Pizza Hut always felt like the "lowest common denominator" Pizza restaurant. Consistent (like McDonald's) but never very special. Haven't been to one for years though.

The Post Office's reputation would be in tatters due to the Horizon scandal, it may go through a rebranding possibly with a new name "PostShop?" to begin a new chapter to regain public trust or become something like "Postbank" for everyone to do in-branch banking once many bank branches have closed their doors.

Or, it could get phased out completely with convenience stores then selling post stuff like stamps, parcels, brown tape, bubble wrap etc and dealing with government payments and delivery/collection etc.

Yes. I have to remind myself of the fact there is the "Post Office" and "Royal Mail". Does it mean that they can blame each other ?. It is sometimes hard to decide for definite where the dividing line is. But it is a lot more obscure where BT and its parts are concerned.

Don't forget that Royal Mail had it's own failed attempt at a rebrand two decades or so ago...

 

[DM352]

Byron Burger was a place felt overpriced a while ago paying extra for fries,and they wanted a tip. I noticed the locations list is much shorter now.

 

[Iskra]

Sadly it looks like shoogly peg time for the model rail business in general.

There has just been a couple of years of boom though, so those that have looked after that dividend and been sensible will be fine. The good times were never going to last forever and the writing has been on the wall for almost a year now I would say.