Little Caesars expanding rapidly in Panama

Panama is not stranger to fast food restaurants such as Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, Domino´s and others, but this supposedly “little” franchise is killing the competition in the city, and going to the suburbs like Arraijan and La Chorrera. Interviewed customers, which are quite happy about this fast food alternative, are stating that other restaurants specializing in pizzas are more expensive than regular restaurants around the city, while you can find pizzas at Little´s for as low as $6.99, and combos for less than $10.00 dollars, other alternatives are becoming prohibitive for the low to medium consumer market in Panama which makes the bulk of this business in our country.

Reversing the trend that is developing in Panama, where fast food franchises are closing, especially this year, Little´Caesars seem to have garnered the Panamanian market, by being really fast, cheap, and dedicated to their formula.

They are not new comers in the world, however. Headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, Little Caesars® is the largest carryout-only pizza chain and fastest growing pizza chain in the United States. Founded in 1959 as a single, family-owned restaurant, Little Caesars has become the third largest pizza chain in the world and today has a presence in all 50 U.S. states, as well as 20 countries and territories worldwide (including Panama).

Known for its HOT-N-READY® pizza and famed Crazy Bread®, Little Caesars has been named "Best Value in America"** for nine years in a row. Little Caesars products according to the company, are made with quality ingredients, like fresh, never frozen, mozzarella and Muenster cheese, dough made fresh daily in the stores and sauce made from fresh-packed, vine-ripened crushed tomatoes.

An exceptionally high growth company with more than 57 years of experience in the nearly $135 billion worldwide pizza industry, Little Caesars is continually looking for franchisee candidates to join their team in markets around the world, and even though, we did not find who the franchise owner is in Panama, the holding company states in its corporate news, that in addition to providing the opportunity for entrepreneurial independence in a franchise system, Little Caesars offers strong brand awareness with one of the most recognized and appealing characters in the country, Little Caesar.

Besides Panama, it recently opened franchises in Dominican Republic and Costa Rica with additional expansion taking place worldwide. Both Dominican Republic and Costa Rica franchises are doing extremely well as the ones located in our isthmus, so the competition will have to start worrying if it wants to keep their market share in these countries.

According to information obtained by Miguel Sanchiz, of the business section of Panama On, and editor of the Panama Business News, Little Caesars has already cornered 20% of the market in Panama City, and it is looking to grow stronger by the day. Anybody can go and visit any of its stores. It can be seen clearly what the cold statistics reflect.

The franchise started in Panama in December 2014 with two branches, one in Calle 50, and one in Condado del Rey. Sammy Akerman, general manager of the Panama franchise, has said recently that one of the reasons Little Caesars is expanding internationally is because the U.S. market seem a bit saturated and Panama is part of the international strategy. Even though, investment figures have not been released to the public, it is stated to be in the millions of dollars, just exactly what Panama needed.