Has Domino’s bitten off more than it can chew?

DOMINO'S made a bold promise about its delivery service, but so far customers have been less than impressed. Has the pizza chain gone too far?

IT’S the fast food powerhouse that has been expanding at an incredible rate. But has Domino’s bitten off more than it can chew?

With profits up 56.7 per cent in the second half of 2015, chief executive Don Meij was celebrating on Wednesday while looking ahead to an equally ambitious year.

But while the company is kicking goals with its $43.3 million half-year earnings, expanding overseas and embracing technology to drive up sales, there’s one promise it is yet to deliver on.

The national rollout of a 15-minute delivery guarantee, which Mr Meij last year hailed as a game changer, has been delayed — and it appears that there are kinks to be ironed out in the system.

Customers of stores trialling the system have taken to the Domino’s Facebook page to complain about being charged extra for a quick-delivery guarantee, only to sit around waiting.

While the service — which promises free pizza if drivers do not meet the tight delivery schedule — was initially supposed to be rolled out by November, this has been pushed back until March, when Domino’s franchisees will come together for their national rally.

After that, Mr Meij said, Domino’s would ramp up efforts to promote the scheme with a national advertising campaign.

Domino’s is shooting for an average delivery time of 12 minutes by 2021.

But some stores are already trialling the guarantee, for which customers must pay extra ($3 for a 20 minute delivery, $5 for a 15 minute delivery). And their customers are not happy.

Helen Do wrote on Facebook: “Over the weekend, I made an order at approx. 12:30am with the 20 minute deliver guarantee. About 10 minutes later, I received a call advising that the Nowra store was already closed so the order would be cancelled. Website stated that the store was open until 1am and the order was confirmed but whatevz. Have checked my account and the funds have been taken from my account! Not impressed, guys!”

Domino’s social media team responded with an apology and promised to investigate the matter.

Hobart’s Steuart Bonser, who also took up the 20 minute guarantee, complained that Domino’s had not followed through on its promise of free pizza when its driver was late.

“The 20 minutes came and went on the app and I received the notification to say I had received a free pizza,” Mr Bonser wrote on Facebook.

“I confirmed my email address and clicked OK to get it emailed to me. Sad to say that I have never received the email. I am a little disappointed as I thought an automated system would have less problems than this.”

Newcastle’s Teanile Bender made a similar complaint, and confirmed when asked by Domino’s that she had checked her junk mail folder.

Samantha Dunn from Caloundra in Queensland wrote: “Don’t bother paying the extra for 20min guarantee, over an hour later and still waiting! Saying order delivered but has not been.”

Others complained that, while their pizza arrived within 20 minutes, it did not have the correct toppings.

Domino’s apologised in each case and promised to “sort this out ASAP”.

TWEAKING THE SYSTEM

Mr Meij said Domino’s was analysing GPS data collected through its driver tracker app to finesse the system.

“It’s been a big project,” he told news.com.au. “Stores are continually getting better at it.”

The company launched its first ever 10-minute delivery store in Brisbane’s inner-city New Farm in December, and Mr Meij is aiming for a national delivery time of 10 to 12 minutes by 2021.

“Our commitment is to a philosophy of being ‘slow where it matters, fast where it counts’,” Mr Meij said.

“Slow in the careful preparation of high quality pizzas, safe delivery and friendly service at the door; and fast in that we are cutting the cook time in half, hustling to and from cars and using faster ovens and improved technology.”

Asked if his franchisees felt under pressure from the delivery guarantee, he said: “Our franchisees are the most profitable they’ve been in our history now.”

Guaranteed delivery times are just one of the innovations being embraced by Domino’s, which in the past six months has unveiled gimmicks including an option to order pizza by texting an emoji of a pizza slice, or by pushing a button on a custom-made device.

Its app allows customers to track the progress of their order, plus create and sell pizzas to friend through the ‘pizza mogul’ program. You can order a pizza using an Apple watch and, in future, any smart device or network.

Despite needing some tweaks, Domino’s focus on developing its digital platforms has already paid off, slashing costs across its global operations — which now extend across Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, France, The Netherlands and Japan.

Recent acquisitions of pizza chains in France and Germany were not counted in the results announced this morning.

[e-mail]

Originally published as Has Domino’s bitten off more than it can chew?