Dive Brief:
- Domino’s will deploy a rectangular, Detroit-style personal pizza nationwide on Aug. 31, according to a Tuesday press release.
- The new pizza, dubbed Domino, will allow guests to enjoy their own meal with the toppings of their choosing without having to share an entire pizza, per the press release.
- The domino-shaped menu item could help Domino’s cement its dominance in the QSR pizza segment by putting more meal occasions in play for the brand as solo-dining, customization and convenience factor more into diners’ decisions.
Dive Insight:
Domino’s sales growth slowed in recent quarters, though the brand has continued to outperform its competitors Papa Johns and Pizza Hut, both of which have closed hundreds of locations in the last year.
Domino’s framed the personal pizza as meeting the needs of a range of dayparts and meal occasions, from lunches to late-night snacks.
The brand said the pizza was more customizable, convenient and portable than its larger, circular pies.
Outgoing CEO Russell Weiner said on the chain’s Q2 earnings call that the menu launch would be incremental to the chain’s core pizza occasions. The menu item is meant to appeal to consumers who would otherwise opt for ordering from a different restaurant, Weiner said.
The chain looked at what consumers who are interested in pizza choose “when they don't buy pizza. And that's what this new product does. It's going to hit an occasion. I don't think we, as a pizza category, hit that well today,” Weiner said.
Domino serves a strategic function similar to the brand’s Stuffed Crust offering by “filling a gap in our menu offerings, we believe this new product will address an unmet consumer need, but this time, with a pizza that is unique to Domino's,” Weiner said.
The Stuffed Crust launched last year and helped the chain negate a menu advantage some of its competitors possessed.
The brand will promote trial of Domino by offering it in a Mix And Match deal, in which customers pick two or more items for $6.99 each, per the press release.
