User:NMS Bill/Domino's Pizza Products rewrite

Products edit

The current Domino's menu features a variety of Italian-American entrees and sides. Pizza is the primary focus, with traditional, specialty and custom pizzas available in a variety of crust styles and toppings. Additional entrees include pasta bread bowls and oven baked sandwiches. The menu offers chicken side dishes, breadsticks and salads, as well as beverages and desserts.[1]

From its founding until the early 1990s, the menu at Domino's Pizza was kept simple relative to other fast food restaurants, to ensure efficiency of delivery.[2] Historically, Domino's menu consisted solely of one pizza in two sizes (12-inch and 16-inch), 11 toppings, and Coke as the only soft drink option.[3]

The first menu expansion occurred in 1989, with the debut of Domino's deep dish, or pan pizza. Its introduction followed market research showing that 40% of American pizza customers preferred thick crusts. The new product launch cost approximately $25 million, of which $15 million was spent on new sheet metal pans with perforated bottoms.[4] Domino's started testing extra-large size pizzas in early 1993, starting with the 30-slice, yard-long "The Dominator".[5]

Domino's tapped into a market trend toward bite-size foods with spicy Buffalo Chicken Kickers, as an alternative to Buffalo Wings, in August 2002. The breaded, baked, white-meat fillets, similar to chicken tenders,[6] are packaged in a custom-designed box with two types of sauce to "heat up" and "cool down" the chicken.[7]

In August 2003, Domino's announced its first new pizza since January 2000, the Philly Cheese Steak Pizza. The product launch also marked the beginning of a partnership with the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, whose beef Check-Off logo appeared in related advertising.[8] Domino's continued its move toward specialty pizzas in 2006, with the introduction of its "Brooklyn Style Pizza", featuring a thinner crust, cornmeal baked in to add crispness, and larger slices that could be folded in the style of traditional New York-style pizza.[9]

In 2008, Domino's once again branched out into non-pizza fare, offering oven-baked sandwiches in four styles, intended to compete with Subway's toasted submarine sandwiches. Early marketing for the sandwiches made varied references to its competition, such as offering free sandwiches to customers named "Jared," a reference to Subway's spokesman of the same name.[10]

The company introduced its American Legends line of specialty pizzas in 2009, featuring 40% more cheese than the company's regular pizzas, along with a greater variety of toppings.[11] That same year, Domino's began selling its BreadBowl Pasta entree, a lightly seasoned bread bowl baked with pasta inside,[12] and Lava Crunch Cake dessert, composed of a crunchy chocolate shell filled with warm fudge. Domino's promoted the item by flying in 1,000 cakes to deliver at Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center near Mount St Helens.[13]

In 2010, the company changed its pizza recipe “from the crust up”,[14], making significant changes in the dough, sauce and cheese used in their pizzas. They advertising campaign admitted to earlier problems with the public perception of Domino's product due to issues of taste.[15][16]

References edit

  1. ^ "Our Menu". Dominos.com. Domino's Pizza. Retrieved April 2, 2010.
  2. ^ Jean Halliday (2 August 1993). "Variety is the spice of life in Domino's Pizza". Crain's Detroit Business.
  3. ^ Jim Osterman (8 August 1987). "Domino's great delivery deal: The pizza's there in 30 minutes or it's $ 3 cheaper". AdWeek.
  4. ^ Rick Telberg (15 May 1989). "Domino's Pizza deep-dishes it out". Nation's Restaurant News.
  5. ^ "Domino's Announces 30 Slice Pizza". Associated Press. 28 April, 1993. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ Amy Zuber (8 July 2002). "Pizza players vie for shares of segment pie with new offerings". Nation's Restaurant News.
  7. ^ Kate MacArthur (19 August 2002). "Menu Expansion: Domino's serves up chicken fillets". Advertising Age.
  8. ^ "Domino's Pizza next Tuesday is scheduled to debut a Philly Cheese Steak Pizza topped with marinated sirloin steak, onions, peppers, mushrooms and provolone cheese". Nation's Restaurant News Daily NewsFax. 26 August 2003.
  9. ^ Kim Severson (8 November, 2006). "'Brooklyn Style Pizza' Meets the Real Deal". The New York Times. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ "Domino's 'Jared' promo targets sandwich market". Nation's Restaurant News. 20 August, 2008. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ Sylvia Rector (26 January, 2009). "Domino's: New premium pizzas in time for Super Bowl". Detroit Free Press. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ "Snapshots". Detroit Free Press. 26 April, 2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ "Off Beat: Domino's plan to let the lava cake flow gets knocked down". The Columbian. 17 August, 2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ Josh Ozersky (29 January, 2010). "Domino's Mea Culpa and America's Pizza Passions". Time Magazine. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ "Domino's delivers new CEO and image". CNN.com. 15 January 2010.
  16. ^ "Domino's says new recipes, frank ad campaign help double profit". Associated Press. 2 March 2010.