MCPIZZA HEATS UP FAST-FOOD COMPETITION

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 11, 1992                   TAG: 9201110348
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT                                LENGTH: Medium
MCPIZZA HEATS UP FAST-FOOD COMPETITION
Fast food slowed down a bit when McDonald's opened a new restaurant here in November.
It takes time for the cheese to bubble and the pepperoni to sizzle.
The Illinois-based chain that almost single-handedly invented fast food is studying a crossover to Americans' bottomless appetite for Italian pie.
McDonald's has been selling McPizza in selected test markets for about four years, but the Rocky Mount franchise is the first in Virginia to offer the product to the public.
Why did McDonald's make Franklin County a test site?
Franchise owners Gary and Judy Robbins say pizza should enable the restaurant to stand out in a local fast-food market crowded with Burger King, Hardees, Kentucky Fried Chicken and three Dairy Queens.
Because McDonald's makes its pizza to order, customers can expect a four-to-five-minute wait - an eternity on the fast-food clock.
Still, pizza is available at the drive-through window, though most customers have to pull over to the curb and wait for an employee to dash out with their order.
At $1.99, a personal pizza topped with sausage was hot and tasted fresh.
To the untrained palate, McDonald's Pizza tasted like what you'd expect from, say, a Pizza Hut.
In fact, the pizza wars have begun, and the local Pizza Hut is retaliating with a $1.69 lunch special on personal pizzas.
No word yet if the Pizza Hut plans to add cheeseburgers and fries to its menu.
Memo: CORRECTION

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB