In addition to the pizza that you enjoy at Domino’s, the story behind the pizza chain can teach few lessons to start-ups.
Domino’s had a humble beginning with no place for people to sit inside the restaurant. Hence the founders decided to deliver the pizzas to homes of their customers. Starting there, it went on to open the 17,000th store in 2020. In US alone Domino’s delivers more than 1 million pizzas every day. How did they do it?
Here are top 10 lessons to learn from Domino’s that every small business teams should pay attention to.
(1) Do not quit early. Stay long enough in the game.
Tom Monaghan and his brother James Monaghan wanted to start a pizza business and took over the operations of DomiNick’s Pizza, in 1960, a small pizza restaurant owned by Dominick DeVarti, in Michigan for US$ 1400.
Just eight months after the grand opening, James Monaghan did not want to continue and traded his half of the partnership for an old Volkswagen Beetle car that they used to deliver pizzas.
With a market cap of more 18 billion USD today, James could have bought at least a thousand Volkswagen cars, if he had stayed back and played long enough.
Start-ups are not 100m races. They are marathons. You get tired, your legs will ache, you need water, juices in between, it takes time to finish and need to have lot of motivation. But the rewards are larger, when you stay long enough.
(2) Take ideas from anywhere and from everyone
When Tom and James purchased the pizza store, the name of the store was DomiNick’s. By 1965, Tom Monaghan had purchased two additional pizzerias and had a total of three locations. Tom was trying to use the same name – DomiNick’s – for the two more stores he added, but the original owner did not allow him from using the DomiNick’s name.
One day, an employee, Jim Kennedy, after returning from a pizza delivery, suggested the name “Domino’s”. Tom loved the idea and officially renamed the business as Domino’s Pizza, Inc. in 1965.
Great ideas can come from any one. Be open. Next idea for your small business can come from a team member, customer or a vendor.
(3) Branding and logo can be simple
The company logo originally had three dots, representing the three stores in 1965. Tom had planned to add a new dot with the addition of every new store. But with rapid growth of so many new stores this idea did not work out well. So company stayed with a logo of 3 dots.
Branding is important. But it can be simple.
(4) Make your offerings simple
Domino’s believed that the simplicity of their menu resulted in great quality products and an efficient business. For the majority of their existence, that is for almost 30 years, Domino’s offered only two sizes of pizza, 11 toppings and one soft drink: cola.
When your small business offering is simple and straight forward, it is easy to understand and easy to purchase by customers. Keep your products and services simple, easy to understand and easy to use. Make it friction free.
(5) Promise your customers great service levels and honour it
Domino’s offered guarantee to customers that their pizza would be delivered within 30 minutes of placing an order or they would receive the pizza free. This is amazing, considering the fact that they have to make a custom made pizza, pack it and deliver it – all in 30 mts.
Your small business too can make interesting, challenging and doable promises to your customers. When your team does it, reward them. When they miss it, reward customers.
(6) Re-think and re-design your products periodically
During 2005 to 2009, Domino’s received lot of criticisms. Many customers complained that the pizzas and their crust tasted like cardboards. Taking these feedback seriously, Domino’s completely did away with their old pizza recipe and replaced it with a brand new taste in 2009.
It is important you take customer feedback seriously and re-design and re-invent your products or services periodically.
(7) Use technology and innovate
Domino’s came with an ‘Anyware program’ that allows you to order pizza via Alexa and Slack. You can also order them using Google Home or Facebook Messenger. Domino’s even created “tweet to order” pizzas.
In 2016, Domino’s partnered with startup Flirtey to design the first pizza delivery drone in New Zealand. Same year, the company also introduced a self-driving pizza delivery vehicle.
Your small business also should leverage new technologies & apps to innovate and improve your operations.
(8) Reduce work for your customers
Domino’s in 2016, introduced a ‘Zero-Click’ pizza delivery app. When users open the app, a countdown timer begins. If they don’t stop the timer after 30 seconds, the app automatically sends in an order for delivery based on your last order and preferences. ‘Zero Click’ app lets you to automatically re-order your favourite meals each time the app is opened.
It just takes couple of clicks to order a pizza. But saving customer’s time, though in seconds, is important for Domino’s. Just small things can make a big impact.
Your small business also needs to think of ways to save time for your customers. When you save time of your customers, they love it and will come back again for your products or services. It may be a simple idea for you, but can have a greater impact for your customers.
(9) Go Digital
When every other pizza chain was doing badly due to economy, due to changes in prices of groceries and political uncertainty, Domino’s was doing great. The key factor is digital transformation of their customer buying experience which was faster and better than their competitors. Domino’s understood how to make ordering 100% digital and 100% easy. Domino’s made sure no one has to call them ever. Dominos made sure their customers can use their websites and apps to order, pay and track their deliveries. They even incentivized for buyers to order online instead of calling.
Your business can also go digital enhancing the experience of your customers. Explore and use every bit of technology, software and apps out there to make life simple for your customers. They will pay you back.
(10) Believe in yourself and your team
Domino’s was a nondescript, no-place-to-sit restaurant when they started. Along the way their pizzas were criticized for its taste. But few decades later, it is a 4+ billions in revenue business, 17,000 locations, 14,000+ employees. Each one of us, have had a Domino’s pizza, sometime in the past.
Every building was a blue print, once. Every king was a crying baby, once. Every business starts as small, but it can grow bigger and better. Your small business is no exception. Keep going. Run a marathon!
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