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Even at its peak, the customers of Eagle Boys Pizza were among the least loyal in the fast food game and ready to permanently abandon the chain, new data shows.
In the year to March, nearly 5 million Australians over 14 years of age visited or ordered from a pizza chain in the past month, up very slightly on the figure five years ago, according to research firm Roy Morgan.
Over the past half decade, the top chain Domino's Pizza was able to boost customer numbers by 28 per cent to 2.2 million - an extra half a million.
In that time, Eagle Boys suffered, with its customer numbers plunging 61 per cent to a relatively meagre 336,000 - a loss of half a million.
What's worse, Eagle Boys' visitation rate plunged below that of the smaller, niche player Crust Pizza in 2014.
The hemorrhaging Eagle Boys acknowledged its collapse earlier this month, calling in administrators SV Partners.
Documents filed with the corporate regulator show the company either could not pay its debts or thought it might soon be unable to do so.
Eagle Boys was founded in regional NSW in 1987 and hit its peak in 2013, boasting 340 stores.
It now has 127 stores stores listed on its website.
"The fast food industry is in flux, with many of the chains we measure losing customers since 2012," said Roy Morgan's Angela Smith.
"Domino's, on the other hand, has managed to swim against the prevailing tide and grow its store network and customer base," she said.
"Its strength lies in its clever use of technology at all stages of the ordering, delivery, pick-up and purchasing process, [such as] allowing customers to place an SMS order using an emoji."
The data also shows customers of Eagle Boys have an above-average tendency to open their wallets at its competitors.
Not only are they more likely than other pizza chains' customers to chow down KFC, Red Rooster, Subway and Sizzler in an average month, but nearly a third also ate Domino's Pizza in this time – three times the national average.
In addition, this figure has been rising steadily since 2012.
Perhaps, then, it will be fitting if Domino's swoops in and buys its struggling rival.
