Domino's Pizza: IT a key competitive advantage

Domino’s Pizza Inc. chief executive Patrick Doyle gave a very positive projection for the company’s growth in 2013 at its annual Investor Day event, saying the brand’s heavy investments in information technology would help it win the “share game” in the United States and the “scale game” in its international division.

Doyle noted that the largest group of employees working every day at Domino’s headquarters in Ann Arbor, Mich., is the IT department. That is significant, he said, because the chain sees itself as one of only a handful of restaurant companies with the technology infrastructure to grow rapidly abroad, where Domino’s already has more than 5,100 units in more than 70 countries.

In the United States, where one-third of Domino’s orders are digital, that commitment to online and mobile ordering and marketing is what would help the chain keep pace with Pizza Hut and Papa John’s, who continue to take market share with Domino’s from regional chains and independents.

The pizza category in the United States was growing a modest 1 percent to 2 percent, he noted. “The upside of the pizza business is that the restaurants are inexpensive to build, so the return on investment is higher,” Doyle said. “But it’s the same for everyone, which is why you see a lot of mom-and-pops. We put a lot into IT because it’s not something a small player can do at the level we’re doing it.”