Pyramid Pizza

Pyramid Pizza

Type	Public
Industry	Foodservice Franchising
Founded	1978 (1978)
Founder	Karl Mache Josef Lakda
Headquarters	Tyrámen , Walneria
Number of locations	2,100
Revenue	3.517 billion US$ (FY 2020)
Number of employees	24,000+

Pyramid Pizza, sometimes simply called Pyramid, is a multinational pizza restaurant chain, with headquarters in Tyrámen, the capital city of Walneria. Being originally located exclusively in Walneria, its expansion into the world began after the Silent Revolutions, with the first out-of-Walneria shop being opened in Obszariec, Malskia, in 1991.

History

Pyramid Pizza was founded as a single shop in Tyrámen in summer 1978 by Karl Mache and Josef Lakda, being originally named "Pizza Latinvm". They operated under this name until 1983, when they recieved a cease and desist letter from a small pizza franchise located in Lubov, which has been using this name and has registered it as a trademark. After that, the pizzeria has undergone a transformation, eventually settling on the name "Pyramid Pizza" sometimes in mid 1984.

In 1985, they experienced massive growth and opened two other shops, creating a franchise out of the single restaurant. In the following years, thanks to multiple innovations, such as at the time unusual zoning and delivery times guarantee, the franchise managed to grow to a chain of approximately 50 shops by 1990, located in Tyrámen and suburban areas around it. First big venture of the company into international trade was the establishment of a restaurant in the capital of neighboring Malskia, Obszariec, with local pizza makers aligning to the company, but not to the general scheme and maintaining a sort of autonomy, therefore establishing an international franchise. This success led to the creation of multiple more restaurants across central Argis in the 1990's, with the number of locations increasing fifteen fold in just 5 years between 1995 and 2000.

In 2003, the company crossed a benchmark set by the competition law of Walneria and has been forced to decentralize and cede much of the structure's competence to each locations' discression in order to prevent anti-monopoly strikes. This decentralized structure allowed locations to diverge from each other, despite keeping the necessary minimum demanded by the franchise owners. Economist Howards Johanssen coined the saying "No two pyramids are alike", comparing the differences in constructions of pyramids across the wurld to the divergence in menus and discounts in respective restaurants.

Ironically, due to the decentralized structure, Pyramid Pizza brand has suffered due to the prominence of pyramid schemes in early 2000's, proposing the renaming of the company, which has never come into fruition. Again, the term "No two pyramids are alike" has shifted meaning. This has been seized by the PR department of the franchise and the phrase became the official motto of the company in 2007.

Corporate structure

The structure of the company consists of five levels, those levels are:

1. Central HQ - consisting of administrative team, CEO, support teams and the board of 45 members, that run all the activities
2. Country HQ - similar to the central HQ, but running operations in each country, making sure to align the guidelines to the laws of each respective locality
3. Group of restaurants - Some restaurants may cooperate to cover a larger area, splitting profits and covering deliveries interchangebly, if necessary. This is not a necessary step on the ladder
4. The restaurant itself as a whole - has a manager/supervisor (may differ based on labor laws in each country)
5. Each shift has its own manager (may differ based on labor laws in each country)

Products

Pizza Margherita as served in Tyrámen

Due to the decentralized structure of Pyramid, only the "mandatory franchise minimum" guidelines are the same in every location. Those minimums include:

• Pizza Margherita, ∅ 50cm
• Pizza Prosciutto, ∅ 50cm
• Pizza Salami, ∅ 50cm
• Pizza quattro formaggi, ∅ 50cm
• At least one type of vegan pizza, ∅ 50cm
• Pizza capricciosa, ∅ 50cm
• Pizza Romana, ∅ 50cm
• Pizza Napoletana, ∅ 50cm
• At least one type of a "pick and go" pizza with ∅ 20cm
• At least one type of a "large" pizza with ∅ 70cm or more
• At least one type of a "giant" pizza with ∅ 100cm or more
• At least one type of non-alcoholic drink
• At least one type of wine
• Non-sparkling water for free (tap water is permissible)
• At least one type of soup containing meat
• At least one type of vegan soup
• At least one type of cold dessert
• At least one type of coffee
• At least one type of vegan salad
• At least one type of tea

Allegations of government interference

Main article: Pizza diplomacy

Pyramid Pizza, along with Gesno, have been accused of knowingly employing secret agents as delivery in other countries' capitals to deliver secret classified messages. While the Government of Walneria admits, that local embassies are instructed to sometimes buy pizza or karibuŕt to the countries' institutions as a sign of friendship and to promote Walnerian bussinesses in the area, they deny any involvement of the Walnerian Bureau for Security of the Confederacy or any other secret service agency for that matter.