how domino's was able to turnaround it's pizza and brand strategy

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It’s been 13 years since Domino’s Pizza’s former CEO Patrick Doyle stared into a television camera and admitted to the American public what it already knew: His pizza tasted like cardboard.



Yeah, Domino’s was good for a quick meal delivered to your doorstep. But quality fare? Nah. This was grub for college kids to inhale during an overnight cram session. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/dominos/dominos-revamps-pizza-recipe-amid-competition-idUKN165885620091216" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">In a 2009 survey</a> of consumer taste preferences, Domino’s and Chuck E. Cheese tied for last among the major pizza chains.



Willing to admit reality and improve his product, Doyle could have tried any number of turnaround strategies to improve Domino's pizza. But to start by simply acknowledging his product was subpar? It was virtually unheard of in food service circles. “You can either use negative comments to get you down, or <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/john-c-maxwell-4-steps-to-handling-criticism/">you can use them</a> to excite you and energize your process of making a better pizza. We did the latter,” Doyle said in the “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH5R56jILag" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pizza Turnaround</a>” video <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna34812047" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">that began to change</a> his company’s fortunes.



Domino’s chefs reimagined their pizza from the crust up, and executives retrained the employees in 5,000 stores, then listened as reviews came in.



Many were good, and “the company's domestic same store sales grew 6.3% during the fourth quarter versus the year-ago period, and 9.9% for the full year, due to increased store traffic and sustained positive consumer response to its improved pizza and the effectiveness of its advertising,” according to <a href="https://ir.dominos.com/news-releases/news-release-details/dominos-pizza-announces-2010-financial-results" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a 2011 press release</a> by Domino’s. After making another promise—that the food customers received would look like the <a href="https://www.andrewlincoln.work/showusyourpizza" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">photos used by the company</a>—Domino’s adopted a “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqy8mAs-Izk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Show Us Your Pizza</a>” campaign, wherein Doyle encouraged customers to upload their pizza photos on a website built for that purpose. <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/10-steps-to-achieve-any-goal/">Accountability</a> and transparency surpassed speed as a mantra.



<h2 id="h-how-domino-s-was-able-to-turnaround-its-pizza">How Domino’s was able to turnaround its pizza</h2>



Since reaching its low point, Domino’s global retail sales have risen to “<a href="https://ir.dominos.com/news-releases/news-release-details/dominos-pizzar-announces-fourth-quarter-and-fiscal-2022" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">over $17.5 billion</a> in 2022, with over $8.7 billion in the U.S. and nearly $8.8 billion internationally”—a sharp change when compared to their sales of “<a href="https://ir.dominos.com/news-releases/news-release-details/dominos-pizza-announces-2008-financial-results-and-2009-outlook#:~:text=The%20Domino's%20Pizza(R)%20brand,and%20over%20%242.4%20billion%20internationally." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">over $5.5 billion</a> in 2008,” according to press releases from 2023 and 2009, respectively. SUCCESS wanted to know the secrets to Doyle’s winning approach.



<h3 id="h-why-did-you-opt-for-such-a-radical-change-instead-of-making-gradual-improvements">Why did you opt for such a radical change instead of making gradual improvements?</h3>



Patrick Doyle: In 2007-08, as the economy was starting to slow down and through some issues of our own, our domestic business had slowed down a lot. We had a couple of years in a row of negative same-store sales, and we finally got in a room and said, “We need to fix what we know has always been an issue,” which was people’s perceptions about the quality of our pizza.… If we tested [our pizza] from a brown box with no brand, they actually liked it better than when we put our brand on it. Not many businesses survive by having negative brand equity, and that was the position we were in.



I think most organizations know where the big hill is. The question is whether or not you are willing to take the big hill.



<h3 id="h-what-factors-did-you-weigh-before-deciding-to-broadcast-the-company-s-problems">What factors did you weigh before deciding to broadcast the company’s problems?</h3>



PD: The most important thing was to get our franchisees on board. <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-take-a-leap/">Getting them to believe</a> in what we were doing was the single most important thing we had to do.



The other big calculation was, How do you launch it? We could have gone with the classic “new and improved.” Frankly, consumers would have yawned. They wouldn’t have paid any attention. So we thought that there was some compelling tension, if you will, in going out and admitting to people, “Look, we recognize that you have a problem with our pizza, we’re listening to you, and we’re gonna fix it.”



<h3 id="h-how-did-you-get-companywide-buy-in-to-turnaround-domino-s-pizza">How did you get companywide buy-in to turnaround Domino's pizza?</h3>



PD: We did it face to face. We went out, over the course of a week, and had five meetings around the country, one a day, to start laying out the case for making a change. Then we showed our franchisees the old pizza and the new pizza, had them try both, took their feedback and then at the end asked, “How many of you would prefer to stay with the old pizza?”



I think out of 1,000 franchisees, 13 said they wanted to stay with the old pizza. Getting in front of franchisees was critically important. If they weren’t heard going into this process, it would have failed.



<h3 id="h-how-did-you-analyze-the-potential-risks-and-benefits-of-the-domino-s-pizza-turnaround-strategy">How did you analyze the potential risks and benefits of the Domino's pizza turnaround strategy?</h3>



PD: In my mind, the risk is having a strategy that doesn’t depend on listening to your customer. Twenty to 30 years ago, big brands could go out and buy hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of advertising and basically tell consumers what to think about their products. It was a one-way conversation. Today every consumer has the ability to share his opinion with hundreds, or thousands, or—if your last name is Kardashian—tens of millions of people.



<h3 id="h-what-else-do-executives-need-to-know-about-today-s-consumer">What else do executives need to know about today’s consumer?</h3>



PD: Consumers today trust their friends and families and, in general, they don’t trust big organizations—businesses, banks, governments. So the brand <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/tiktok-is-here-to-stay-is-your-brand-ready/">lives in social media</a>. In many cases, [consumers] will trust an anonymous poster on Yelp more than the brand itself. So it’s fairly low-risk to embrace that feedback because it’s the only path to success right now.



<h3 id="h-lots-of-organizations-are-tapping-you-for-turnaround-advice-after-your-success-with-domino-s-pizza-what-do-you-tell-them">Lots of organizations are tapping you for turnaround advice after your success with Domino's pizza. What do you tell them?</h3>



PD: Three things: First, almost all organizations know what their big problem is. It’s about fixing the problem and deciding you’re going to take on that big hill.



Second, recognize <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/6-tips-for-rapid-social-media-growth-in-2022/">the power of social media</a> and build a two-way conversation with your customers.



And third, in a world where there are hundreds of television channels and people online choosing what they are going to engage with, you need to do something pretty different if you’re going to break through. A slightly improved version of what you used to do or what others are doing is not going to drive you to great success.



This article was published in December 2013 and has been updated. Photo by LightField Studios/Shutterstock

After bad taste test results, Domino's decided to turnaround its pizza and brand strategy. Learn how from the brand's former CEO.

After bad taste test results, Domino's decided to turnaround its pizza and brand strategy. Learn how from the brand's former CEO. | SUCCESS

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Domino's Pizza Turnaround: What You Can Learn | SUCCESS

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Jennifer Reed

Robin Sorensen&nbsp;had been hanging out in firehouses with his dad, Rob, since he was a kid. He followed him and his big brother, Chris, into firefighting but quickly realized that the lure of the kitchen was far stronger than that of the fire truck. He spent two years on the force and another in emergency medical services before trading his uniform for a chef&rsquo;s apron and then persuading Chris to join him in opening a sandwich shop, <a href="https://www.firehousesubs.com/find-out-our-story/" target="_blank" title="Our Story | firehousesubs.com" rel="noopener">Firehouse Subs</a>, modeled after the vocation that shaped their upbringing.As he celebrated his chain&rsquo;s 20th anniversary, Sorensen spoke to SUCCESS from his sweeping 9,000-acre Bell Cross Ranch in Montana, recounting his early fascination with food, the partnership with his brother, and their ability to create a top-notch sandwich chain with no culinary experience, no business background and, initially, no money to their names. Their story is one of grit, self-sacrifice, risk, chance discoveries, strong branding and self-identity, and financial conservatism that allowed them to survive the recession and then swell into the 788 franchises and 30 corporate-owned restaurants they oversee today.Q: What inspired your love of cooking?A: Growing up, I definitely had a passion for food. The term &ldquo;foodie&rdquo; did not exist, but most of the things I remember from childhood are around meals. That&rsquo;s why I loved spending the nights in the fire station with my dad. You were sitting around the house with 15 other people, and I&rsquo;d spend the day wondering what we were having for dinner.My mom is an excellent cook, too. I spent many a day standing on a chair and helping her cook. We watched a lot of cooking shows, which back then was Julia Child, the Galloping Gourmet or Jeff Smith&mdash;remember him? He was one of my favorites.Q: What were those early startup days like? Tell us about launching your first restaurant in Jacksonville, Fla.A: So we had the idea and went around asking people for money. It was a two-year period, and then we kind of gave up. We couldn&rsquo;t get anyone to give us any money. Then in the last six months before we opened, everything fell into place. It was a series of things that just started happening one day. I started telling my mother-in-law about [the concept], and I never expected this, but she said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll loan you my credit card.&rdquo;We never ever talked about having a big chain. Embarrassingly enough, we never even talked about making money. All conversations were about how to present the brand, the way it would look, the food, the quality, the portions. We kind of did it backward. But we focused on the things we were really passionate about, and everything ended up working out.Q: There are a lot of places to buy a sandwich. What makes Firehouse Subs stand out?A: The biggest thing is the majority of sub shops out there are cold subs, and from day one we wanted to be hot. We kind of stumbled upon the steaming thing&mdash;we bought a steamer because we couldn&rsquo;t afford a grill&mdash;and the steaming part turned out to be way bigger than we thought. [Firehouse steams the meat to warm it, a process that results in added moisture and enhanced flavor.] We didn&rsquo;t realize what a separator that would be.Nowadays anybody can go out there and have hearty and flavorful food. We&rsquo;re not the only people who make a great sandwich. It&rsquo;s really all about our culture and <a href="https://www.firehousesubs.com/support-our-foundation/" target="_blank" title="Support Our Foundation | firehousesubs.com" rel="noopener">The Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation</a>, which has given public safety agencies $11 million since 2005. It&rsquo;s a foundation that matches our brand and our family heritage. Quality food, big portions, steaming&mdash;all that stuff can be duplicated, but the Firehouse brand can&rsquo;t. It&rsquo;s the whole package.Q: How did you make the leap and learn the culinary business while opening a&nbsp;restaurant?A: I don&rsquo;t think I ever made a leap. I think I was a restaurateur since the day I was born. I just had a temporary stop. We didn&rsquo;t have any culinary experience. The whole thing was driven off what we thought tasted great and was unique and different. I&rsquo;m not opposed to research now, but back then it was all intuition. I think we knew what we didn&rsquo;t know, so we just focused on what we understood. I&rsquo;m not a culinary guy, but if I were, we wouldn&rsquo;t be anything like we are. Would we have been successful? I don&rsquo;t know. Firehouse is not fancy; it&rsquo;s not very diverse. It&rsquo;s simple: great quality, big portions and great flavor. We didn&rsquo;t overthink it. We didn&rsquo;t go ask everybody, &ldquo;What do you like and what do you think?&rdquo; We just sat down and did it.Q: What financial sacrifices did you and Chris make early on?A: We set ourselves up for success as best as we could. My goal was to take a minimum salary to survive&mdash;maybe $300 to $400 a week. From &rsquo;94 until maybe &rsquo;98 or &rsquo;99, Chris was still working as a firefighter and didn&rsquo;t make anything [from Firehouse Subs]. But it was what was necessary to survive.Our salary is not important. We had made <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/to-do-build-a-budget" target="_blank" title="To Do: Build a Budget | SUCCESS.com" rel="noopener">a commitment to financial discipline</a>. We decided once we started being successful that we would make the commitment to grow this thing. Chris and I didn&rsquo;t take any distribution out of our company&mdash;not a penny other than money to pay our taxes&mdash;until the day of our 10th anniversary.And the benefit of that is when the economy went down, we had been debt-free since 2001, and we were sitting there with cash in the bank.Q: Speaking of the recession, you maintained your prices and made a major advertising push right in the middle of an economic crash. Why?A: Everyone else was cutting media spending. People were changing portions, making cheaper prices. Subway&rsquo;s $5 footlongs were at their peak. We did not renew with our [advertising] agency, and our new agency told us, &ldquo;You need to double down and buy the most radio you&rsquo;ve ever bought, and you need to change your message. You need to talk about your quality, and you need to tell your story.&rdquo;Chris and I went on the radio and told our story. It was like a light switch. In fact, we reached a record-breaking $730,000 [average unit volume] by the end of 2012. And even with that success, to this day, we continue to ask our franchisees to investment-spend. We have to communicate our message.Q: As a brand that&rsquo;s well-known for your large portions, why did you develop the &ldquo;Hearty and Flavorful&rdquo; line of lower-calorie options? How do you think it will affect the business?A: What we&rsquo;ve seen is some people want less carbs and more protein. We wanted to give them more options. We have six new subs and four new salads with the same amount of meat that we have on all of our mediums; we just cut the bread down by a third.We had hundreds of different names and ways we were going to present this, and ideas of what we were going to call it. Nothing really felt right. I was sitting at my house one night and looking at our mission statement, and the first thing that&rsquo;s on it is &ldquo;hearty and flavorful.&rdquo; That&rsquo;s who we&rsquo;ve been for 20 years. That&rsquo;s what we do. Everything we do in this new menu has to be hearty and flavorful. We can&rsquo;t get away from that.<h3 class="SIDEBARS_SIDEBAR-TITLE">Getting Fired Up!</h3>Fun Facts about Firehouse Subs&bull;&nbsp;Each Firehouse shop has a custom mural reflecting the local fire department. Chief mural artist Joe &ldquo;Art Brush&rdquo; Puskas and his team have painted every one of them.&bull;&nbsp;Family members ranging from Robin and Chris&rsquo;s parents to their spouses, in-laws, children and sister Cecily Sorensen, vice president of corporate communications, are part of the company. The family rule? Everyone starts at the bottom. &ldquo;Nobody gets any favors,&rdquo; says Robin Sorensen, chuckling. &ldquo;Chris&rsquo;s son, a grad from [the University of Florida], wants to be an executive vice president. We started him on dishes.&rdquo;&bull;&nbsp;The Firehouse Public Safety Foundation was born out of the Sorensens&rsquo; trip to storm-ravaged Louisiana to assist public safety officials and residents in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.&bull;&nbsp;Captain Sorensen&rsquo;s Datil Pepper Hot Sauce is their iconic spicy-sweet condiment. Every year Firehouse Subs, the world&rsquo;s largest user of datil peppers, produces 60,000 gallons of the sauce.<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/entrepreneur-test-do-you-have-what-it-takes" target="_self" title="Entrepreneur Test: Do You Have What It Takes? | SUCCESS.com" rel="noopener">Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Find out.</a>

[node:summary] - The co-founder of Firehouse Subs shares how his family business became a booming brand.

Robin Sorensen&nbsp;had been hanging out in firehouses with his dad, Rob, since he was a kid. He followed him and his big brother, Chris, into | SUCCESS

Firing Up (Sandwich) Success

Firing Up (Sandwich) Success | SUCCESS

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