FOR A BIGGER SLICE; LITTLE CAESARS HOPES BOOSTING PIES' SIZE WILL HELP DOMINATE THE TOP OF NATIONAL PIZZA PILE.

Byline: Carol Teegardin Detroit Free Press 

Little Caesars has taken Pizza Hut's dare and raised it.

Pizza Hut's latest salvo in the pizza wars has been challenging its customers to find a better-tasting pizza with bigger ingredients.

Little Caesars responded by announcing Friday that it would increase each size of its pizzas by four inches in diameter, and enlarge its three-inch pepperoni slices and extra-large ham slices.

The current prices and the Pizza! Pizza! promotion - where you get two pizzas for one price - will remain intact.

The new pizzas - called BIG! BIG! - make their debuts in restaurants Monday.

``We are clearly separating ourselves from the competition,'' said Harsha Agadi, chief operating officer for Little Caesars Inc., based in Detroit. ``Our new pizzas will be larger, heavier and we will have bigger toppings.''

Agadi said the company aims to bring in large families and retain customers with the new menu. He also said that current pizza sizes had not changed with customers' tastes.

``A teen-ager can take today's large and wolf it down single-handedly,'' he said. ``We want to challenge today's teen.''

Friday's announcement follows Little Caesars' Pizza-by-the-Foot promotion, when the company created its 3-foot-long pizza.

``It fits in with Little Caesars' core value - which is to offer a lot of food for a low price,'' said Mark Hamstra, fast-food editor for Nation's Restaurant News magazine in New York.

``I think that's always been their point of differentiation against their competitors.''

Hamstra said it's tough to increase sales in the $25 billion American pizza market. ``You pretty much have to come out with new products or new innovations. Usually those innovations are subtle, but this thing Little Caesars is doing isn't very subtle.''

In May, Pizza Hut, which ranks as the No. 1 pizza seller in the nation, introduced a $50 million quality improvement plan built on what it calls Totally New Pizzas.

The sauces are thicker, the meats meatier, and the mushrooms, onions and peppers are sliced instead of diced. Fresh produce items, instead of frozen or canned, are used.

``We launched our Totally New Pizzas the first of May. And that was in response to what our customers requested. They wanted more on their pizzas and they wanted higher quality,'' said Jay Allison, spokesman for Pizza Hut Inc. in Dallas. ``We acted on that request, and it's been incredibly popular.''

Is Pizza Hut's move what inspired Little Caesars to come up with the bigger sizes now?

Company officials say no.

Spokeswoman Sue Sherbow said, ``What inspired us is that we feel people want more food, and value has always been our market niche. This is what makes us different from our competition. It makes us stand out, and it really emphasizes the quality of our product.''

Little Caesars founder Mike Ilitch, along with a research team, has been working on expanding pizza sizes for about two years, according to his daughter, Denise Ilitch Lites, vice chairwoman of the company.

``We just know that people today are eating more pizzas than ever,'' she said. ``So we wanted to redefine what a great pizza should be with our new big sizes.''

And, just what does this mean for the competition?

``It probably won't affect us in the least,'' Tim McIntyre, spokesman for Domino's Pizza in Ann Arbor, Mich., said.

``I will be very surprised if you see any other pizza companies reacting in kind to what Little Caesars is doing. Domino's is on one path, and Little Caesars is on another.''

Allison said for Pizza Hut, ``We're not going to respond to what Little Caesars is doing because we've already responded to our consumers. What we heard from our consumers is that price and quality is important, and I feel we're the leader in that category.''

So what other BIG! BIG! plans does Little Caesars have for upgrading its product? Nobody's telling.

``Hey, you never know what Dad has cooking in his kitchen,'' Ilitch Lites said.