KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysians have been served with the opportunity to decide whether American-inspired US Pizza gets to keep its name, or change it to “Kita Pizza”.
The pizza chain, with more than 100 outlets in Malaysia and Indonesia, took to its official Facebook page today to invite its followers to weigh in on the name.
“You want us to change our name? If this posting gets more than 10,000 likes and comments, we’ll do it!” said US Pizza.
The post has since garnered more than 2,100 reactions and 247 shares as of 5.20pm today, with many in favour of changing the pizza chain’s name to “MY Pizza” to give it a local flavour.
“Kita Pizza is a very Malaysian name. I like it, let’s go!” said Facebook user O.S Kuek while user Ming How preferred MY Pizza.
However, a few users wanted US Pizza’s name to remain, with Awang Dzulhilmi saying it could be defined as “Untuk Semua Pizza” or Nik Low’s suggestion of “Ulu Selangor Pizza”.
US Pizza began serving Malaysians when it was first opened in Penang in 1997. The pizza chain was bought by Jeremy Hiew, who envisioned the brand to be a product that could cater to the Malaysian palate, with fusions of western flavours.
Previously, Wealth Link Freedom Sdn Bhd chief executive Mohd Sobree Ali, who operates a branch in Taman Prima Saujana, Kajang, said “US” in the pizzeria’s name does not refer to the United States. He later retracted his comment.
The pizza chain is not the only one caught in the recent boycott of Israel or US-linked brands, such as McDonald’s, Starbucks, KFC, Coca-Cola and Nestle.
Recently, local coffee brand ZUS Coffee had to issue a statement saying its name and logo were not linked to the Greek god Zeus. – November 20, 2023