At its annual Investor Day last week, Domino’s unveiled a plan to get the brand back on the right path. The brand’s executives believe systemwide sales can be increased $7 billion across five years—$3 billion of which would come at its U.S.-based stores.
The brand also sees a future where it grows to 50,000 restaurants globally. As of 2023, the brand claims just under 6,800 stores in the U.S. and about 13,400 international locations, according to QSR magazine, a sister publication of PMQ.
Domino’s is calling its new plan “Hungry for MORE.” In this case, “MORE” serves as an acronym only a marketing department could dream up: Most Delicious Food, Operational Excellence, Renowned Value and Enhanced by Best-in-Class Franchisees.
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Beginning with the food, Domino’s has admitted the need for more innovation. According to Domino’s CEO Russell J. Weiner, Domino’s hasn’t “romanced [its] product the way we know that we can.” Changes have already been made as a result: In 2023, Domino’s launched two menu innovations in the same year for the first time since 2011, rolling out Pepperoni Stuffed Cheesy Bread and Loaded Tots.
“There’s no freezers in our stores, no fryers in our stores,” Joe Jordan, president of the U.S. business and global services, told investors. “Everything’s made fresh to order. We’re really proud of the food that comes out of a Domino’s store.”
In terms of its mission to achieve operational excellence, Domino’s will lean on its proprietary back-of-house technology, DomOs. The platform can be used for things like tracking delivery drivers and when they are approaching a restaurant, alerting workers who can bag up the goods and send the driver on their way without them ever having to leave their vehicle.
Domino’s also reports investing in robotic dough stretchers that will help bring staff onboarding times down and further enhance brand-wide consistency. The dough-stretcher’s name is “DJ.”
In terms of “Renowned Value,” Domino’s pointed to the changes it has made to its loyalty program. In September, the brand announced the new spending threshold to earn points on the app moved from $10 to $5, which meant, for the first time, consumers purchasing the everyday $7.99 carryout deal would be rewarded. There were also changes made to how quickly consumers could redeem their rewards as well.
Finally, because Domino’s plans to grow with the support of franchisees, the brand spent time outlining what it looks like to be a Domino’s franchisee these days. The presentation highlighted what an 8% annual operating income growth would look like across five years—in 2022, U.S. franchisees earned $139,000 per store in EBITA. This year, it’s estimated to be $160,000 per store, and Domino’s is targeting more than $170,000 in 2024.
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“We get the next generation of franchisees really excited,” Weiner said. “We say this all the time. You can’t become a franchisee at Domino’s Pizza unless you work at Domino’s. Since I’ve been here in 15 years, [we’ve] never had more people in our franchise management school, and we’ve never had more people finished with it ready to sign and open a new store. Our franchisees and our future franchisees are really excited about what we’re delivering.”
Investor Day took place at a time when Domino’s is seeking momentum due to lackluster sales figures. In the U.S., Q3 sales declined 0.6% after staying largely flat (0.1% increase) in the second quarter.
The brand projects having over 6,800 Domino’s stores open in the U.S. by the end of the year.
