Pizza Hut Indonesia CMO: Refocusing on Business Fundamentals to Drive Profitability

For Pizza Hut Indonesia, 2025 marked a significant turnaround, with the company recording a net profit of more than IDR 25 billion. This recovery came amid a challenging industry landscape and a shift in consumer behaviour that had impacted performance throughout 2024. The company achieved a 10.2% growth in same-store sales (SSS) and a 9.1% increase in net sales, alongside a 30.1% growth in EBITDA. According to Elvin Rahardja, Chief Marketing Officer of Pizza Hut Indonesia, this success was not solely driven by marketing campaigns but by a collective effort across all functions to return to business fundamentals. Operational teams exercised strict cost control, even monitoring gas and electricity usage, while HR contributed through employee branding and corporate reputation management. From a marketing perspective, the team launched successful campaigns, including the ‘Seriously MusangKing’ durian pizza series and the ‘Dip n Crunch’ video during Ramadan, which won awards at the Campaign Indonesia Awards 2026. Rahardja, who honed his skills at Procter & Gamble, stresses the importance of consumer understanding, pricing, and supply chain knowledge. He balances short-term sales targets with long-term brand building through a rigorous sales and operations planning process. His ‘north star’ metrics are profitability and market penetration, and he sees artificial intelligence as a future tool for operational efficiency, including potential applications in waste management.