Domino’s franchise recipe for success in the food sector

Systemise, serialise, personalise and jovialise.

These are the foundations for the success of the Domino’s Pizza franchise in Western Australia, and doubtless throughout the world. Geoff Raynor, a Domino’s Pizza franchisee in the western third of the Australian continent, is a discipline disciple. His primary focus is on doing things better, rather than doing them differently. But that is not to suggest that he is immune to the need for change. It’s simply that Raynor recognises the scope that exists to make better pizzas quicker, with an assured high quality, a great value price structure and ever-increasing pizza franchise productivity in delivery times. Moreover, the Domino’s menu is continually updated to respond to consumer needs, the company having recently invested in a dedicated ‘secret’ research kitchen called the ‘Love Lab’. A full-time team of staff members develop around 10 pizza concepts each week to keep the menu fresh and appealing. To fulfil customers’ ever-increasing expectations, it is imperative that pizza operations fix ‘bottlenecks’. Time is of the essence to the consuming public.

Furthermore, pizza retailing is an integral element of the fast food franchise sector. The introduction of salads, light cheese, various exotic toppings and sugar-free drinks notwithstanding, pizza remains a lead offering when it comes to fast food. As such, quality remains sine qua non (second to none).

The monthly auditing of stores in accordance with a discrete list of key performance indicators and the periodic monitoring of suppliers is complemented by the management action mantra of ‘be in every store, every day’. Little, it seems, has changed since the early 1980s when the book In Search of Excellence espoused the Hewlett Packard corporate culture philosophy of MBWA – Management By Walking About. An integral aspect of the micro-management of individual pizza outlets is to ensure that the people who are recruited, inducted and trained have the right attitudes. Having fun overrides and transcends any notion that the process of making and delivering pizza, like many employment activities, is repetitive and boring. To ensure staff have fun, the company lives by its vision to ‘Sell more pizza, Have more fun!’ Indeed, it has established a ‘pizza college’, a manager training program that helps to develop today’s pizza delivery drivers into tomorrow’s management team members. The nature of its commitment to a strong social conscience is highlighted by the fact that Domino’s has also established an internal non-profit fund, which provides financial assistance to employees and their families in times of need. The Partners Foundation has helped in more than 100 individual cases over the past decade.

More fun, more sales

Those who have more fun sell more pizza. It is an appealing and refreshing perspective. Therefore, all should dedicate themselves to seeking out, recognising and celebrating fun opportunities. The simple act of answering the phone in a prompt, disciplined and courteous manner can be a self-initiated fun event that challenges the individual to maintain standards.

With this in mind Rayner is dedicated to what he calls “banking” customers, and his minimum goal is to achieve 2000 ‘banked’ customers per store. No customer leaves the premises or accepts a home-delivered pizza without a box-top offer. Regular direct mail pieces complement the personalised communication.

And you can bank on the consequences. The average interval for buying pizzas among those in the primary target market of 16-35 years of age has shortened from six weeks to three, and continues to shrink.

An increasing number of marketers are accepting and planning for a concertinaing of company and product lifecycles. Of course, reinventing the entity within a three-year horizon and progressively refining the product/service mix every 18 months is labour, resource and capital-intensive. However, it is as expensive as it is mandatory. Quite simply, there are no viable, cheaper shortcuts. Franchisees and business owners need to recognise and accept this business reality and imperative. Reinvention is the most effective investment in developing an outlet.

Avoiding complacency and accepting that no successful business committed to the long-term would ever conclude that it has ‘arrived’ should be sufficient incentive to maintaining investment in the business, its premises and people. Compounding the complexity of today’s marketplace is the fact that more outlets are launching, increasing in size and, in the case of pizza, constantly offering consumers an improved, better value product. In such an environment, standing still with a complacent mindset is simply not an option.

Recipe for success

So there it is – a recipe for success in the marketing and delivery of pizza. As is the case with so many owners and managers of small to medium-size enterprises, the key and most pressing issues are, in descending priority:

Adequate capital: Sufficient to constantly upgrade standards

Impactful marketing: Ongoing, integrated communication that sells the product, concept and dream

Recruiting and retaining the right people: Affable, supportive team members who do and want to contribute

Fun culture: Putting a smile on the face of staff members and customers is fundamental to success

Discipline: Establishing and maintaining standards.