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KFC and McDonald’s are the most profitable fast-food chains in India. It’s a known fact. But there is something a lot of people don’t know is that Dominos is standing in No.1 position beating the chicken and the burgers. Many of us know this fast-food brand for its 30-minute free delivery policy, did you know that Dominos performed so well from 2010 to 2017 that its stock price has gone up by 2000% outperforming major firms like Amazon, Apple, and Netflix.
But before this perfect result, Dominos almost drowned and was labeled a ‘failed’ brand. So, what was that strategic, calculative move that this ‘cardboard’ pizza company made to revitalize its brand?
Let’s transport back to 2009, the time when the brand image of Dominos was as bad as death, the time when its stock was selling at just $6 per share. Sure, the speed of delivery and ordering convenience- it was the first to introduce mobile ordering, and to allow customers to track their orders but when it came to taste, Dominos was ranked last tying up with Chuck E. Cheese. That’s when the firm’s president, Mr. Patrick Doyle decided to look deeply into the situation. Soon, they found multiple blogs and social media posts criticizing how bad the pizza was. Some said the crust tasted like cardboard while others complained about the sauce tasting like ketchup.
In a scenario like this, any company would start their engagement with PR, give out a lot of coupons, get out free pizzas, or in the worst case, ignore all this thinking a meer blog cannot bring down a billion dollars company. But what Dominos decided to do is very clever. They used the most lethal weapons of advertising, that is, brutal honesty. This is something that a failing company would never even dream to opt for, but well, Dominos did. Patrick himself publicly announced that his pizza was bad. He admitted that it didn’t use real cheese, its crust and sauces were terrible. He took complete responsibility for the situation, called up a bunch of disappointed consumers, and asked them to test taste their pizza to give them feedback. That must’ve been one of the most bizarre days for Dominos since they had to listen some worst about their food, but the staff patiently heard every customer and made notes using their feedback.
Now what happened next was no less than a feel-good inspirational film. All sorts of possible pizza combinations were put together and tried by the chefs of the firm for the next 18 months. They worked day and night without taking their weekends off to come up with the best pizza possible. In this pizza transformation process, they also realized how much the supply chain compromised to cope with the 30 min delivery policy they had. All the ingredients were far from fresh since they were all frozen, canned, or pre-made to make it easy for getting the pizza ready on record time and also cut the cost down. Henceforth, the chefs and the management change the supply chain of Dominos completely. On top of all this, they also launched their ‘Oh Yes, We Did It’ campaign where they filmed their journey from making the so-called criticized ‘Cardboard’ pizzas to making the best pizzas in the US. The head chef of Dominos personally went to the people who criticized their pizzas and surprised them with their new ones. All of them were mind blown and could do nothing but agree that it was the best pizza. So, this is how Dominos rose like a Phoenix and did everything they can to get back to their number one position.
--- Yaseswi