By Rick Hynum
Domino’s highly touted Slice Sauce didn’t exactly set the pizza world on fire when it launched earlier this year. If anything, it was a bit of a dud.
But outgoing CEO Russell Weiner, who will turn the reins over to Joe Jordan on September 30, has one last trick up his sleeve: a new menu item for the third quarter of 2026 that will be “unlike anything we’ve offered before at Domino’s.”
For now, this game-changing offering remains highly classified. But Weiner dropped several hints about it in a Q2 earnings call with investors on July 20.
One thing seems clear: It won’t be another fancy condiment. We’re talking about a brand-new pizza.
Q2 2026 saw Domino’s same-store sales nudge up just 0.1% compared to the second quarter of 2025. Weiner attributed the disappointing results in part to a rare misfire: The brand had overly high expectations for the new Slice Sauce this past quarter, pairing it with last year’s blockbuster menu innovation, the Parmesan Stuffed Crust Pizza, as well as with its premium Handmade Pan pies.
“That did not resonate with customers the way it needed to,” Weiner admitted. “The message wasn’t compelling enough,” creating a drag on ticket averages.
The Parmesan Stuffed Crust, which debuted in March 2025, had the opposite effect. It helped boost ticket averages and bumped same-store sales much higher for Q2 2025. For Q3 2026, it appears that Domino’s hopes to repeat that success with another premium menu item.
“Our revised calendar for the second half [of 2026] brings a pizza innovation in Q3 that is unlike anything we’ve offered before at Domino’s,” Weiner said in the call with investors.
He added, “Similar to the opportunity Stuffed Crust created by filling a gap in our menu offerings, we believe this new product will address an unmet consumer need, but this time with a pizza that is unique to Domino’s.”
Moreover, Weiner added, “I will also tell you it is my favorite pizza, full-stop, and customers agree. It’s one of the best-tasting products we have ever tested.”
During the call, Weiner’s comments piqued the interest of at least one analyst, who pressed Weiner for more detail.
“One of the things that we did here was, we looked at some of the challenges within not only Domino’s but within pizza,” Weiner replied. “We looked at what consumers…buy when they don’t buy pizza. That’s what this product does. It’s going to hit an occasion that I don’t think we, as a pizza category, hit that well today.”
Another hint: “This signature product will give customers a delicious new reason to come to Domino’s while protecting the core pizza occasions that have been key to our success,” Weiner said. Finally, he stated that “this is an incremental occasion. We believe there’s a lot of incrementality to this.”
What could that mean? Perhaps an individual-size pizza for the lunch crowd similar to Pizza Hut’s Personal Pan Pizza? If so, the product wouldn’t be unique to Domino’s…unless it has additional characteristics, perhaps related to the crust or the shape, that will set it apart.
Cagily, Weiner stoked excitement about the new product while circling around the question: What the heck is it? Presumably, we’ll get an answer sometime before the end of September.
Rick Hynum is PMQ’s editor in chief.
