Domino’s pizza innovations fail to wow Italians

Domino’s, the pizza chain, has more than 19,000 stores across 90 markets around the world, but Italy is no longer one of them. 

Why it matters

The pizza is a simple dish where execution is arguably more important than content; the sort of crossover cuisine that has seen Domino’s add cheeseburgers and BBQ chicken to the dish is clearly anathema to many Italians. There may also be an element of hubris in thinking a brand that, 12 years ago, was apologising to its own customers for the quality of the product, was well placed to compete in the home of the pizza.

Takeaways 

• Earlier this year the franchise “sought protection from creditors”; Bloomberg reports that, after seven years of operation, all 29 Italian branches of Domino’s have now closed.
• Apart from the menu, the pandemic was a major factor as Domino’s delivery model was hard hit by independent pizza restaurants quickly gravitating to food delivery platforms. 
• A recent study by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, cited by the New York Times, found that Neapolitan pizza evokes concepts of “quality, well being and family” – notions that large pizza chains “with their standardized products” struggle to match – and that consumers prefer “artisanal products”.
  

The big question 

Why would you put pineapple on a pizza? 

Sourced from New York Times, Bloomberg, WARC