Product type Frozen pizza Introduced 11 February 1980 | Owner Orkla Group Website Grandiosa.no | |
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Markets Nordic countries
Poland | ||
Pizza Grandiosa (Colloquially also referred to simply as Grandiosa or Grandis) refers to the most popular brand of frozen pizza in Norway. Grandiosa can also refer to the series of different Grandiosa variants. Grandiosa is Italian for great or grand.
Contents
History
Production of the original Grandiosa started on 11 February 1980, then produced by Nora (now Stabburet) in Stranda in Sunnmøre. Grandiosa was one of the first frozen pizzas produced in Norway. The pizza became vastly popular and is still the most sold pizza brand in Norway, in defiance of increasing competition from other local and international brands. In 2002 Stabburet responded to increased competition in the frozen food segment by reviving the brand with creative marketing and several new versions of Grandiosa. The pizza is also exported in smaller numbers to the neighbouring countries Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Poland and Iceland.
The pizza is subject to a lot of humorous debate, and is unquestionably a piece of modern culture, loathed and loved by Norwegians. It has been called the "modern national dish" by some, others claim it is "a piece of cardboard", "laziness in a box" and even "refrigerated evil".
In 2005 Grandiosa got its own unofficial book: "GrandiosaLAND". The book contains stories about the man who had a broken jaw and had to put his Grandiosa in a blender to eat it, and many other stories about Grandiosa, and favourite Norwegian pastimes such as hyttetur (trips to cabins typically located close to the sea/fjords or up in the mountains), russetid (the close to lawless celebration of the high school graduation) and dugnad (the collective activity of helping one another with mutual tasks through unpaid and voluntary work of importance to the community).
Market
Grandiosa benefited from being first to the market and early creating surprisingly loyal customers. Lately Stabburet has used creative marketing to promote Grandiosa. Examples are their very successful SMS-vote marketing campaign for selecting new addition to the pizza in 2004. Another example is their hit mobile ring tone "Respekt for Grandiosa" (Respect for Grandiosa) which 300,000 downloaded within 1.5 months.
A total of 260 million pizzas have been sold. Twenty four million units of Grandiosa are produced each year for the 4.67 million citizens of Norway. The average person eats about 5 Grandiosa pizzas per year showing how extremely popular "Grandis" is among young people. The reason for its popularity is that it is a Norwegian product, that it is easy to make, and, according to some, that it tastes nice. It is prepared in a pre-heated oven for approximately 12 minutes at 225 degrees Celsius. 100 grams of Grandiosa gives 220 kcal (920 kJ). The normal price for a Grandiosa is about 40 NOK (about $7), and about 45 NOK (nearly $8) for the Lørdagspizza (Saturday Pizza).
Hit singles
Stabburet has released two singles as part of a large scale marketing campaign for Grandiosa. Both reached the top spot in the Norwegian charts.
Varieties
In addition to the original Grandiosa, there exist different varieties.