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Editor’s Note: This article is part 3 of PMQ’s 2026 Pizza Power Report. You can scroll down to the bottom to navigate to the next section of the report.
By Rick Hynum and Charlie Pogacar
As independent pizzerias have been forced to raise menu prices and take the flak from customers, top chains have dialed up the pressure with value deal after value deal in 2025 to lure budget-minded customers. And few brands have had more success with that strategy than Domino’s.
When Domino’s CEO Russell Weiner introduced his Hungry for MORE plan in December 2023, he aimed to grow systemwide sales by $7 billion across five years, including $3 billion at its U.S. stores. Admittedly, the acronym is a bit clunky: MORE stands for Most Delicious Food, Operational Excellence, Renowned Value and Enhanced by Best-in-Class Franchisees. But, from the start, Weiner believed in it, and with good reason: The brand saw a significant increase in U.S. same-stores sales in 2024 and has repeated that success, for the most part, this year, with a rise of 5.2% in Q3 and 3.4% in Q2.
Even so, whatever else went on behind the operational scenes at Domino’s, deep discounting was key to Hungry for MORE. Domino’s “Best Deal Ever” offered any pizza with any crust and any toppings for $9.99; the digital-only offer proved so popular, franchisees asked to keep running it every chance they got. Other deals included 50% off all menu-priced items ordered online and a $6.99 carryout special for large two-topping pies.
That’s a lot of discounting, but Domino’s can afford it. And every deal added more members—and valuable data—to its rewards program, which, in turn, drove more sales and top-of-mind awareness.With cash-strapped Americans eating out less than they used to, value deals were the response for large and small chains alike. Little Caesars rolled out its More for $9.99 Menu with various pairings in July. &pizza, a Washington, D.C.-based brand, debuted a $7 combo offer that featured a half pie with cheese plus one topping and a beverage; the scrappy brand even confidently asserted that the deal “sent some serious shock waves across the various fronts of the value war.”
California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) launched a “$10 Pizza Days” promotion spotlighting four of its top-selling pies, with a minimum $20 purchase required. California-based Mountain Mike’s Pizza also pushed for bigger ticket averages with a $25 deal for a large one-topping pie, a two-liter soda and the choice of a salad, 20-piece garlic sticks or Mini Churrs (bite-size churros).
But one pizza brand wasn’t too pleased with the payback on its value deals: Pizza Hut. David Gibbs, the outgoing CEO of Pizza Hut parent company Yum! Brands, told investors as much in an August 5 earnings call. Pizza Hut had been getting adventurous with menu items like the new Crafted Flatzz flatbreads, the Cheesy Bites pizza and the Ranch Lovers Flights for dipping. But “an insufficient value message amid a competitive value landscape resulted in transactional softness,” Gibbs said. In other words, a 5% decline in Pizza Hut’s U.S. same-store sales for Q2 2025 signaled that customers weren’t biting.
“Clearly, this is…a softer consumer environment all around the world where value matters,” Gibbs told investors. “Value never doesn’t matter, but it’s [of] particular importance in this environment. And what we’re seeing around the world is we can win when we…do value the right way.” Indeed, Pizza Hut’s $2-Buck-Tuesday special—a one-topping Personal Pan Pizza for $2—went gangbusters, selling out at more than 3,100 locations on July 8.
The ordinarily cautious chains also stepped out of their comfort zones with a little more menu innovation this year. Pizza crust turned into its own battleground, with offerings like Domino’s Parmesan Stuffed Crust, Little Caesars’ Stuffed Pretzel Crust, and Papa Johns’ Garlic 5-Cheese Crust (pictured above). Pizza Hut introduced personal-sized Crafted Flatzz (Nashville Hot Chicken, Chicken Bacon Ranch, Three Cheese and others), while Marco’s Pizza debuted the Triple Pep Magnifico and the Mike’s Hot Honey Pepperoni Magnifico.
Between value deals and new menu items with artisanal aspirations, QSR pizza chains spent 2025 on the offensive, but none more aggressively than Domino’s. The chain now boasts 7,090 stores in the U.S., an upswing in sales, and even a brand refresh in the works: redesigned pizza boxes, an enhanced website and app, new uniforms and more. “In all of our marketing, Hungry for MORE is no longer just a strategy,” Weiner told investors in October. “It has a look, a sound and a heartbeat. Seeing everything come to life this year gives me the confidence that, in 2026 and beyond, we’ll be able to achieve our goal of 3% same-store sales in the U.S. and continue to take meaningful market share….We’re just getting started.”
Domino’s, in short, is winning the pizza value war. But as you’ll see in our next section—which is exclusive to PMQ.com and did not appear in the print or downloadable report—things began taking a surprising turn for several above-mentioned chains shortly after PMQ’s December 2025 print deadline.
Click here to read a website-exclusive addendum to PMQ’s 2026 Pizza Power Report: Troubled Pizza Chains Face an Uncertain Future in the Coming Year
