There used to be two 50 Pizza shops and two 50 pizza clones quite near my house but they’ve all disappeared now. Killed each other off! I think the chain is called 50 pizza because you can get a basic mini pizza for 50 dollars. Not sure if that is still the case. The reason they have done well is that it’s a cheaper way to get a bite of something pizza-ish compared to PizzaHut and Dominoes. A couple of years ago so many 50 Pizzas were opening around Taichung that Pizza Hut started doing mini pizzas and other “gratin” stuff. Probably a silly question but do you know if there are 50 Pizzas in other parts of the country or is it just Taichung? I’ve always been curious about that!
I think the guy who first started 50 pizza is the same guy who later started 85 coffee. Apparently he lost a lot of money on 50 pizza after all the clones came in, so sold it and started 85 coffee. There used to be 5-6 50 pizza and clones here in Changhua, now there’s just 1. The Indian curry noodles are nice.
Naruwan, the sign on the door in the Hukou store says “Kaohsiung” so i think that is the site of the original one. i’ve always found it amazing how clones pop up around places, or even the same stores such as 7-11 will be across the street from one another. in the US you could never get the financing to open a 7-11 store across the street from another one but in Taiwan that is very common. it’s like people don’t stop to think that if they open a clone store it just dilutes the amount of customer dollars by spreading it among more stores. no wonder the whole scheme fails over time.
the 50 Pizzas that i know about are Hukou, Tainan and Kaohsiung. i’ve eaten in all 3 of those places.
that explanation about the name makes total sense. but i do think that the pizza is the weakest item on the menu.
sorry to say but i have yet to have good pizza in Taiwan, even at the foreign pizza chains. i just don’t order it anymore.
Craig, thanks for that info. i didn’t know that about the ownership. i didn’t try the Indian curry mainly because Hui-chen makes an awesome curry rice!
now they got 85c clones going…. i wonder how long that will last?
i’ve considered opening my own restaurant featuring bush food. that would be very difficult to clone.
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October 17th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
There used to be two 50 Pizza shops and two 50 pizza clones quite near my house but they’ve all disappeared now. Killed each other off! I think the chain is called 50 pizza because you can get a basic mini pizza for 50 dollars. Not sure if that is still the case. The reason they have done well is that it’s a cheaper way to get a bite of something pizza-ish compared to PizzaHut and Dominoes. A couple of years ago so many 50 Pizzas were opening around Taichung that Pizza Hut started doing mini pizzas and other “gratin” stuff. Probably a silly question but do you know if there are 50 Pizzas in other parts of the country or is it just Taichung? I’ve always been curious about that!
October 18th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
I think the guy who first started 50 pizza is the same guy who later started 85 coffee. Apparently he lost a lot of money on 50 pizza after all the clones came in, so sold it and started 85 coffee. There used to be 5-6 50 pizza and clones here in Changhua, now there’s just 1. The Indian curry noodles are nice.
October 18th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Naruwan, the sign on the door in the Hukou store says “Kaohsiung” so i think that is the site of the original one. i’ve always found it amazing how clones pop up around places, or even the same stores such as 7-11 will be across the street from one another. in the US you could never get the financing to open a 7-11 store across the street from another one but in Taiwan that is very common. it’s like people don’t stop to think that if they open a clone store it just dilutes the amount of customer dollars by spreading it among more stores. no wonder the whole scheme fails over time.
the 50 Pizzas that i know about are Hukou, Tainan and Kaohsiung. i’ve eaten in all 3 of those places.
that explanation about the name makes total sense. but i do think that the pizza is the weakest item on the menu.
sorry to say but i have yet to have good pizza in Taiwan, even at the foreign pizza chains. i just don’t order it anymore.
October 18th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
Craig, thanks for that info. i didn’t know that about the ownership. i didn’t try the Indian curry mainly because Hui-chen makes an awesome curry rice!
now they got 85c clones going…. i wonder how long that will last?
i’ve considered opening my own restaurant featuring bush food. that would be very difficult to clone.