Domino’s Pizza has achieved consistent growth, becoming an investors’ darling, thanks to its digital revolution. The pizza chain has outperformed many tech giants like Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook, rising 630 percent in the last five years and 1,200 percent in the last decade.
While there are many factors that contributed to the success story, the biggest driver was the investment in technology and innovation, according to Patrick Doyle, president and CEO of Domino’s.
Doyle became CEO in 2010, after some troubled years when the company’s profits dropped and the stock price crashed.
“Domino’s tastes like cardboard,” many customers complained. And in a 2009 taste survey, the company ranked the lowest among restaurant chains in the United States.
“There comes a time when you know you’ve got to make a change,” said Doyle in a YouTube video ad campaign. The company decided to start over with a new pizza recipe, changing all of the ingredients, including the crust, the sauce, and the cheese.
Digital Success
Pizza-making was not the only thing management had to transform. In 2010, the company began investing heavily in cutting-edge technology to boost its digital sales, which had started in 2008.
Today, 60 percent of the company’s revenue comes from digital sales compared to 25 percent in 2010, according to a report by consulting firm Capgemini. That’s much higher than the industry average of 20 percent, says the report.
