A Domino’s delivery driver
(Picture: Domino’s )Domino’s Pizza boss Dominic Paul believes his firm can continue to entice customers in the face of rising inflation as it serves up national price cuts.
With inflation hitting a 25-year high in January, households are facing a cost of living crisis, but Paul says his firm’s revitalised ability to offer national deals to customers will support sales.
“We are landing a stronger value message as customers are feeling the pressure, and that gives us confidence that we can accelerate our growth,” he said.
Paul said the company’s first national campaign last year came after a “long” gap of two years, and was launched after he struck a new agreement with franchisees, which included a £20m investment pledge and required franchisees to hit new store opening and order targets.
Paul, who took the helm in early 2020, said although his business was “not immune to inflation”, it was able to offer customers cut-price deals through efforts to make the business more efficient.
This included new ways of loading goods at its distribution centres, such as putting each store’s ingredients order in a cage which can more easily be unloaded upon arrival, and a new routing system for its lorries, which is saving fuel and reducing delivery times.
Full-year pre-tax profits for the year to 26 December rose by more than 8% to £115.1 million on sales of £1.49 billion, helped in part by the fact more than nine out of every 10 of its pizzas were ordered online.
Paul also announced a new £46 million share buyback scheme, which comes after the £136 million in dividends and buybacks last year.
So far in 2022, the firm has opened five new stores compared to one in the same period last year, and believes this quick start means it will open at least 45 new sites this year.
Paul added that he was also confident of exceeding the 200 new store target set out in his medium-term plan in December, and believes the firm can hit the upper end of its £1.6 billion to £1.9 billion sales target in the next few years.
