After suffering from delivery stagnation in the post-pandemic era, Domino’s Pizza appears to have finally found its footing again after implementing its multi-pronged “Hungry for More” strategy. The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based pizza chain reported 2.8% U.S. same-store sales growth for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2023, largely attributable to growth of both its delivery and carryout sectors, though total revenue gains were only modest.
The delivery sales improvement was actually noted before Domino’s began feeling the full effects of the company’s historic partnership with Uber Eats, which was first announced last July.
“Clearly customers want value and driving profitability for our franchisees while providing value to our own channels is one part of our barbell strategy while tapping into the aggregator marketplace,” Domino’s CEO Russell Weiner said. “We’re very excited about this new sales layer, which we believe is a different and largely incremental customer that we have not been able to reach in the past. As we are now fully rolled out across our US system, we've gone live with the marketing… and we expect those orders to continue to grow throughout the year.”
Weiner said the company expects to finish 2024 with a 3% sales mix of Uber orders. Another key aspect of Domino’s comeback is its new loyalty program, which was rolled out in September, and has added three million members since its launch. Q4 2023 was the first full quarter with the new Domino’s Rewards program, which added tiered membership options and the opportunity to earn more rewards faster than in the past.
“A big driver of the increase in active members as well as the early success of the program was our emergency pizza promotion, which was an innovative marketing initiative that drove increased order counts and acquisition of customers into Domino's Rewards,” Weiner said, referring to the Oct. 2023 promotion that gave away $1 million of free pizza. “We're seeing more redemptions than ever before, and we're seeing them at those lower tiers that we implemented. And we know that this program has driven incremental profit dollars for our franchisees, so customers are getting more, and franchisees have earned more profits.”
Weiner confirmed that national promotions will continue to be a major focus for Domino’s Pizza moving forward to ramp up awareness of the company’s new features and changes, including the Uber Eats/Postmates partnership and loyalty program updates. Domino’s also started advertising its pan pizza again, which it has not focused on in a decade, to remind customers of the food the chain has become known for.
Other operational improvements coming in 2024 include a new service training program called Delicious Operations that will double down on food quality, and a push for more franchisees. The company recently added 60 new franchisees to its system—the most franchise base growth in 15 years.
“Every one of these new franchisees started with Domino's either as a delivery driver or from within our system,” Weiner said. “This remains the secret sauce to our success.”
Domino’s revenue for the fourth quarter of 2023 increased $10.7 million to $1.4 billion or 0.8%, in the fourth quarter of 2023, as compared to $1.39 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022. Net income decreased 0.6% to $157.3 million or $4.48 earnings per share in the fourth quarter of 2023 as compared to $158.3 million or $4.43 in the fourth quarter of 2022. Domino’s opened net 394 stores in the fourth quarter for a total store count of 20,591 restaurants globally.
Contact Joanna at [email protected]