Grandiosa

"Pizza Grandiosa" (Colloquially also referred to as only "Grandiosa" or "Grandis") refers to the most popular frozen pizza in Norway. Grandiosa can also refer to the series of different Grandiosa variants. "Grandiosa" is originally an Italian word for "great" or "grand".

History

Production of the original Grandiosa started on February 11, 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 revived the brand with creative marketing and several new versions of Grandiosa. The pizza is also exported in smaller numbers to the neighbouring countries Sweden and Finland.

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 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". [cite web | url=http://www.nesteklikk.no/20020701/14393.html| title = Grandiosa - den store testen! | author = Sverre Bjørstad Graff | date = 2002-07-01 | accessdate = 2006-10-14 | language = Norwegian]

In 2005 Grandiosa got its own unofficial book: [http://www.grandiosaland.no/ "GrandiosaLAND"] . The book contains stories about the man who had a broken jaw and had to put his Grandiosa in the mix master so he could eat it, and many other stories about Grandiosa, and Norwegian favourite past times 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 diploma) and "dugnad" (the collective activity of helping one another with community tasks).

On the 25th of September 2008 the swede Christina Engerup ate Grandiosa for her first time, and she immediately developed an obsession of it. What is the future going to bring to this once so promising project manager/ civil engineer? Only time will show, som Blodstrupmoen sa...

Market share

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. [cite web | url=http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2006/03/14/460691.html | title = 300 000 har lastet ned Grandiosa-låt | author = Joakim Thorkildsen | date = 2006-03-14 | accessdate = 2006-10-14 | language = Norwegian]

A total of 260 million pizzas have been sold. Twenty million units of Grandiosa are produced each year for the 4.67 million citizens of Norway. [cite web | url=http://www.stabburet.no/eway/default0.asp?pid=223&oid=0&e=0&trg=Content_4372&Main_4320=4372:0:10,1134:1:0:0:4320;4341;::0:0:0&Content_4372=4330:14575::1:4361:1:4320;4372;::10:0:0 | title = Merker og Produkter - Grandiosa | author = Stabburet | accessdate = 2006-10-14 | language = Norwegian] 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 stove 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 30 NOK (about $6), 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.

s-ttl | title = Norwegian VG-lista number-one single: "Respekt for Grandiosa"
years = 29 March 2006 – 24 May 2006 s-ttl | title = Norwegian VG-lista number-one single: "Full Pakke"
years = 28 March 2007 – 11 April 2007

Varieties

In addition to the original Grandiosa, there exists different varieties.

References

External links

* [http://www.grandiosa.com/ Grandiosa Norway]
* [http://www.grandiosa.fi/ Grandiosa Finland]
* [http://www.grandiosa.se/ Grandiosa Sweden]
* [http://www.grandiosaland.no/ GrandiosaLANDs homepage]