Hungry Kya?

A humid summer afternoon today in Chennai, and I was lazing indoors at home when my phone rang indicating an unknown Delhi number. I answered the call and a pleasant female voice said that she was calling from Domino's Pizza to get my feedback on an order I had placed on Sunday. The feedback revolved around which item I liked the most, what improvements I would expect and whether the offerings were worth the price.

Domino's pizza has come a long way since it set shop in India in the year 1996. Under the control of Jubilant Foodworks which holds a master franchisee agreement (presently extending to Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh), it has taken long for the global pizza giant to warm up to the Indian consumer's mindset. But things are looking up now after massive changes have been put in place.

The questions posed to me during the feedback call revealed quite a lot about the new focus areas of Domino's Pizza here. In my opinion, they are:

1. Variety - The addition of pastas and the choco lava cake complement the regular pizza offering which has itself been embellished by the new Cheese Burst (below) - a roaring success.
2. Quality - The effort to incorporate customer feedback, specifically in improvements indicates the strong focus on quality.
3. Value for money - With offerings starting from Rs.39/- and exciting deals on the menu, Domino's is proving to be an ideal dining destination for the middle-class youth.

Any successful CEO would vouch for the fact that successful strategies are born out of the analysis of huge volumes of data, which bring out the strengths and opportunities that the organization should invest in.  I have a feeling Domino's is doing exactly that, thereby gearing itself up for a successful growth phase in India where it aims to grow to over 500 stores in the next 2 years having stood at just 120 stores 2 years back. The CRM system and the feedback process only confirm my beliefs.

India is the fastest growing market for Domino's worldwide, and is expected to become one of the top 5 markets globally within the next 3 years. No wonder, Patrick Doyle's first halt was in India, after taking over as the new CEO recently.

However, managing growth will be a great challenge and requires immense planning, focus and superb execution, along with great leadership. In my opinion, some of the challenges Domino's will face are the following:

1. Standardization in product and service across all outlets in this vast diverse country
2. Food price inflation will surely affect margins, yet pricing needs to be competitive
3. India is primarily a dine-in market unlike most other countries where Domino's thrives on home delivery (which happens to be its USP) - Real-estate, store management etc. require specialized skills

Notwithstanding these challenges, Domino's is trying to inch-ahead on the innovation front (with online ordering being the latest one) and I'm sure competitors are feeling the heat.

<Photo (left): My friends Bala and Harish relishing our last lunch at a Domino's Pizza outlet in Indore - a place that we would miss terribly (Yes, we were regulars there!), yet carry fond memories>