Store manager of 2 years.
Done the lot, dough boy, delivering, instore and now managing.
Can give an insight to coorporate/franchisee life.
Will give general ideas but not specific figures.
I speak from QLD, but 99% of my answers should go for all AU/NZ.
AMA.
Boilerplate: these are my views, not the company's.
Great questions!
We don't hire personal shoppers as there are ~20 dedicated staff around Australia that do unannounced audits of stores. This covers everything from making sure service is adequate, cleanliness is up to scratch, KPI's are decent (e.g delivery average under 25m) and food safety standards are met. These guys scare us enough to get our act together more than any mystery shoppers will. The audit is scary but the staff are great!
I was defrosting a 2kg of sausage on our bottom oven (the top oven was on and being close to the heat from that helps it defrost faster), suddenly a large order came in, thought "oh dear, going to need the second oven for this one", I'm going crazy by myself whipping up these 40 pizzas, I wrap up and go to start cutting them and… sausage scattered across the entire bottom conveyor belt, spilling onto the floor, MAYHEM!
Hacks: ham and cheese add pineapple is a Hawaiian for ~$5 cheaper. Beef and onion, minus onion, add bacon and mayo is the same as a double bacon cheeseburger, about ~$6 cheaper. Otherwise, there's always a 30% off coupon floating around somewhere online. You're a chump if you pay full price ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Great responses! Hah I’d imagine that your sausage fest would have been quite hilarious! Pun intended 😄
I haven't eaten in Dominos in years, but earlier up top you said you make 20c off a $5 pizza. Is that $5 based on a half price coupon, or full price? Like I said, been so long I don't know your prices.
In other words, if there's no coupon used, do you make a lot more than 20c?
So those figures were for out $5 value range, which are pizzas that are bare bones that we sell for $5. These account for half of our pizzas total. They are never discounted.
@User301387: I would never have imagined $5 value range would ever amount to half of pizzas total. No wonder profitability is a problem. Last time I bought value was when Hawaiian was in that category (I think) and it wasn't $5.
Dirtiest/wildest delivery story? Ever get the fabled "desperate single woman"?
Topless hungover chicks tops it. Otherwise there's the old blokes in undies. One time one of my younger drivers took 12mins at the customers house and came back with this hugggge grin on his face, we still can't get out of him what happened that day. Literal dirtiest was this smoker/drinker with spit cups and bottles everywhere, had trouble finding feet placements as I tip toed around…
Do you dock pay for taking too much time? Or use any other penalty?
Docking pay is super illegal. Drivers aren't pressured time wise for any part of the delivery. We want to make sure they make their most important delivery: bringing themselves back to the store in one piece.
Why is chicken a extra cost, yet you have other 'meat loaded' pizzas for the same price.
Mind clarifying your question?
All extra toppings get charged.
All pizzas are preset and changes offer incur charges.
Chicken is expensive.
He means why is there a surcharge on chicken?
I'll be back tomorrow, keep the questions coming!
Cheers :)
Can you give a possible reason why my local dominos was making charcoal in their oven?
A bunch of times I have gone there they where taking out things completely charred. I hope it was dough and a I think was a book out of the oven. No orders nothing to do lets burn things!!!!
Also do you know where the toppings are made/imported from?
I asked dominos for a full list awhile ago. I received a message back with a few things that where apparently Australian but other stuff was a secret "I'll have to get back to you on the rest" but they never did.
Also is there a perfect time to order at the end of the day to get like whatever toppings is left over? Or are leftover toppings recycled for the following day nowadays?
Years ago now long after the website ordering went live. I ordered a pizza around 90mins from the store closed and max'd out the cheese option for funsies (it didn't charge you extra back then). It ended up being more cheese then crust but it so tasty.
I tried other times since but no luck.
If we don't sell dough within three days, we have to cook it off as it gets too bubbly, perhaps, like you say, they were bored and kept passing it through the oven since they were bored. Otherwise, they might'nt've "docked" (put enough holes in the dough so the dough doesn't rise in the oven) the pizza and it's poofed up in the oven and got stuck without them noticing.
Surprising amount of ingredients are from Australia. Veggies, all meats, sauces are Australian. The offenders that come to mind are cheese is from the US, Avocado is from Portugal or something.
Toppings are refrigerated for the whole day and go back in the fridge at night. They all have 4 day shelf lives or more, and all stores go through even the slowest moving ingredients in 4 days so there's no leftovers as such. There is a catch tray at the bottom of where we make pizzas, but that gets thrown out.
We have a chart for the weight of every topping on every pizza and thus they aren't eyeballed, so you wouldn't get extra toppings anyway.
That's a great cheese story, can't say I've made the same when I was feeling EXTRA hungry.
Pizza Hut or Dominos?
I couldn't tell you where the closest one is, and the last time I had a PH, the sauce was bland and the dough was eh.
Do they make you do a massive amount of overtime without paying you?
Overtime is generally paid. The instances where they aren't might be because managers have been put on a flat rate contract that forgoes penalty rates or overtime or allowances etc. Legally however, this flat rate must be more over a weekly basis than they would have had with their regular hours with penalty rates to. I.e they're paid more but there's no penalty rates as such.
As a consumer, is it possible to tell the difference between a corporate and franchise store?
As an employee, are there substantial differences between a corporate and a franchise store?
Finally I get to answer this question! :)
As a consumer, you'll get much better service and marginally better pizzas at CORP.
As an employee, you'll get treated slightly worse at CORP since they are extremely strict on internal operation procedures and what not, for instance, you get yelled at if at the end of the day they count the stock and the makers used $5 too much cheese because if they used scales and followed the weight charts, there wouldn't be a variance. This is the very reason CORP stores are finding it very hard to find people and are extremely short staffed at the moment. I mentioned above about the HO auditing team. They're so short that the auditors are being forced to do shifts at CORP stores!
CORP stores will generally have faster delivery times since they can put on 6% more staff since they don't have to pay the AU Dominos royalties. They'll also invest in the latest technology a la 3 min ovens. Their stores are spic and span too. To any to be staff, I'd recommend going Franchisee, just make sure you find the right one.
How do we (customer) know what’s a corporate store or not?
What % are Corp stores?
On your physical paper receipt it'll have "Franchised by: COMPANY NAME" if it's a franchise. Otherwise the staff'll know.
If I paid by Credit Card and it doesn't say DOMINOS in description, that means it's franchised?
Though of a more succinct way of putting this.
In a franchise, deliveries wait for drivers.
In cooperate, drivers wait for deliveries.
As a vegetarian, I am always sceptical of the way you make a vegetarian pizza, making the dough, adding toppings, cutting the pizzas and so on. Is there something I need to be worried about vegetarian pizza coming from Dominos?
Nothing to worry about in terms of dough.
We're trained to use different utensils, knifes, etc…
In practice this is rarely done, there's also the issue of having to churn out 100+ pizzas in half an hour and the contents of different tubs to be slightly mixed.
If it's quiet or you make a point about it we will always accommodate though.
But again, varies greatly on the store. Just call up before you put the order through and explain.
Have you ever deferred from training yourself?
All I'm saying is if you have two full ovens, there's not much time to switch knives.
@User301387: Answer from management right here.
So it's inherent in the culture /store.
What other short cuts and non procedure practices do you do to save time?
Eg. Not putting the correct amount of toppings on a pizza.
Also do you ever use 'off' ingredients?
@dasher86: The reason we can't guarantee veganism or gluten free or anything is it's a fast food place. Things get mixed up. The worst infringement we often make is when we run out of our supliers spinach, we buy it from Coles ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Off ingredients go in the bin, we're too scared of the unannounced head office inspections to do anything dodgy. Yet to see them get to that point, we go through stock too quick, the worst I've had to do was a bag of spinach that was a day off best before.
@lostn: You've got 30 days to clean up your act for a reaudit. Failing from there come quite hefty "retraining" fees. Continue failing and say bye to the store. If you fail the food safety section however, they will call an independent auditor that have the authority to shut the store down outright.
@User301387: I had a Dominos in my town(small vic regional), always wondered what happened to them, one day they were here and literally overnight they removed all signage and shop gear and were gone. Do you think that what you described is what happened?
@Greihawk: The fact that they didn't have a "last week sale" or "clearing inventory" or anything seems to suggest just that.
I have seen at many dominos store in Sydney that they use the same cutters which they use for cutting non vegetarian pizzas.
Would you buy a franchise or Dominos Shares?
Wouldn't buy a franchise at the moment. QLD floods have raised food prices and there's too thin of margins to buy in. The 5 public holidays in 1 week killed all franchisees the other week.
Am invested though.
Yeah, there's not much margin with 20c net profit per pizza.
Sorry one more question - How long does it take to top an off the menu supreme with no changes?
Don't be sorry, no question limit!
You're looking at docking, saucing, topping, sprinkling oregano and putting it in the oven. Depending on the person 15-45s. Average 30s.
Am invested though
As in Dominos AU shares?
Correct. I guess that may change the validity of my answers, but at the same time I own so little and this AMA will have such little impact that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Surely Domino's going into thickshakes was a mistake?
It seemed like a bad idea when they announced it at the time (2016/2017?) and I understand franchisees were required (no choice) to pay $18,500 per machine per store.
You just don't ever seem to see anyone leaving a store with one, and it doesn't seem to suit their business model (same as for the oven-baked sandwiches, which I understand have now been discontinued).
We were forced into paying for the machines yes, but they've paid themselves off, we did 87 thickshakes last week! Often have repeat customers because we use real ice cream rather than softserve, this comes at the expense of SUPER expensive icecream, which is why our thickshakes cost more than others.
Does it suit our business model, yes and no. Sometimes people want something cold with their hot meal and the only thing pre-thickshakes that didn't go through the oven were soft drinks, and again, there seems to be a market for it.
Can confirm, they're amazing and one of the best thick shakes I've had.
Picked one up tonight after reading this comment and the rest of the thread - 10/10 would recommend to a friend. Wow.
I usually tip my delivery guy $5 if they make it before the estimated time of delivery. Is $5 a decent tip? Or is it like 'meh'.
Does word get around if there is a 'good' tipper in the neighborhood, and they try and deliver as quick as possible?
$5 is the top we ever see these days. I'd be careful rewarding/scalding drivers relative to delivery time. That's 90% circumstantial things going on instore. The estimated delivery time (EDT) is based off averageDT for the last hour. In winter especially, if there happen to be a bunch of orders all at once, the EDT may be 20mins but could easily be up to an hour in worst case scenario. You can never roster perfectly, and with franchisees there's a great pressure to do skinny rosters. I'd reward the driver on how quickly they get from the store to your place though. And yes, there is good banta about certain addresses and different challenges in store to see who gets to take it from scissor paper rock to a race around the block while the order's coming through the oven.
Great question :)
What's the best selling pizza?
Just pulled up the numbers for YTD for you:
Approximately what proportion of customers use a coupon code vs paying full price?
Do free pizza coupons issued by Facebook or online feedback get absorbed by whichever store they are redeemed at, or paid out by HO?
They get absorbed. In the case of poor customer feedback, there's also a "$19 customer resolution fee" for franchisees as well as the free vouchers.
47.425% full price on orders YTD, I'd'nt've guessed that, cheers for making me chase that up, higher than I thought!
Holy moly. Given the tight profit margin that’s huge hit for poor feedback.
Is there any differentiation given to the order docket or on the system anywhere to a good or bad customer? Either notes written by the store or a customer that has filed numerous complaints?
My previous local got significantly better over time but it took… maybe 10 (completely legitimate) complaints to get there. Just moved and it looks like I’m back at square one with my new local.
Gee that % for full price is high indeed, but then again, I suppose full price for the top selling pepperoni is $0.20 profit…
If you're a phone order-er we have a "customer comments" section, usually along the lines of "bring change for $50" or "has a dog". I only know of one customer we have where we entered "DO NOT SERVE". HO has data on who's complained before too.
I forgot an important piece of information. It's the $19 if it's deemed by HO that we didn't do enough to appease the customer after hearing our side.
maybe 10 (completely legitimate) complaints
would of refused you after 2. Luckily its a franchise with a HO.
47.425% full price
I really think that breakdown explains a large part of Domino's success. The higher margins on regular menu prices well and truly covers the slim margins with coupons.
FULL PRICE: Walk-ins/impulse purchases/people on their way home from work or pub/the mum with kids in the back, load of groceries, just needs something quick and easy for dinner/don't have time or inclination to faff about with coupons/when a treat or indulgence, price becomes a secondary consideration/lured by exposure and brand status
COUPON USER: Knows they can probably get better quality pizza elsewhere but the cheapest available option and convenience is just too damned tempting/junkmail marketing/cheapskates/slobs/human trash :B
Bang on mate.
Gotta love when you walk in to pick up $6.95 coupon pizzas or something, and someone is staring at the menu boards and putting an order through at full whack! The urge to educate them is strong lol
We'll have a giggle when they walk out too!
People will often ask "any deals on that" I go, "it's usually cheaper online" and it's always one of two things, both confuse me.
Never seems like there are enough prawns on my pizza, so how many should there be?
I presume there are some sort of standards by number or weight for each ingredient?
9 on garlic prawn/reef steak bacon. 9 for each added. I.e added prawn = 9, extra prawn = 18, extra x2 prawn = 27. May differ by one since it's measured by weight rather than pieces. If you get any less, utilise the pizza replacement guarentee, if your store doesn't honor it, complain to HO.
Correct, we have this huge chart mounted on the wall (at every store) with every weight for every topping for every pizza.
Thanks. Definitely not getting that so will complain next time. (I think it was 5 or 6!)
Can you use a coupon for buy 1 get 1 free and leave a message for all the toppings on 1 pizza. Normally my local domino's are very tight with toppings. I have sent photos to dominos facebook who just sent me a coupon for free pizza. They still make crappy pizzas. I stopped buying them.
If they're not going to listen to HO, they're not going follow your request. There's something in the works that will tackle this very issue head on coming very very soon though. Stay tuned.
I remember when Dominos did the if you are not happy with your pizza we'll make you a new one. I opened my pizza and showed them at the time of pick up. There were 7 tiny pcs of chicken on the whole pizza. I said this is not acceptable that's less than 1 per slice. They offered to "fix" my pizza rather than making me a new one. They put extra chicken and ran it through the oven again which ended up browning the pizza and some of the toppings were burnt. This other time I ordered the Edge pizza once and it was just normal crust when I complained they said Edge just means extra cheese, it doesn't mean it has to cover the whole pizza and that's how their store made the edge crust. I complained to HO both times but I doubt any action was taken. Does the HO take any action if the store consistently delivers a poor product?
Best Domino's I ever had in Australia was at Surfers Paradise South in Gold Coast. 4 X the toppings i'm used to.
How long ago was this? HO recently cleaned up their act.
The store was clearly in the wrong both times, how spineless for them to be in denial.
dead set whats the average profit dominos make on a $5 pizza
From above:
"It was more than a year ago now that pizzas shrunk. The rule of thumb for a franchisee is a $5 pizza comes to about 20c profit. So if a single $5 is a mistake and needs to be made again, you're wiping out 24 other $5 pizza's profit.
I.e there's such a slim margin and there's a huge internal debate going on about them as we speak (you may notice some $5 pizzas have jumped up a small bit)"
Dead set, question was already asked.
Whats the country of origin domino's prawns.
Thailand.
Great AMA
Years ago when I worked at McDonald's we became friends with the local Pizza Haven and would often do McD - Pizza swaps on the closing shift
Is this something you guys do?
Also are the more expensive 'large' pizzas worth it? I look at a large pep for $8 and think for an extra $2 I could just get 2 X pep
We've got a deal with the coffee shop next door ;)
For your $5 pizzas, it's not worth it, otherwise 100%. Let's do some math. If an extra large is 50% bigger then it equals 1.5 large pizzas. If I buy three extra large $5 pizzas that's $15. If I buy two extra large pizzas, which equals three pizzas, it's $16. Case in point. Not worth it on value range.
So are the extra large pizza actually 1.5x the size? Or is that just marketing
There'd be HUGE fines if they were advertising that and not making it available. I can say for sure it's 1.5x the size.
I've got a question relating to the con-game Dominos have going on at the moment.
I speak of course about the Hawaiian Pizza shenanigans.
Currently you can either order a Hawaiian pizza from the "Traditional" menu.
Or you can save a few bucks by getting a Ham & Cheese Value Range Pizza and simply adding pineapple
My question is apart from the latter option being cheaper - do any other differences exist between the two?
If so - What are those differences?
And if not - why have Dominoes set it up this manner.
And why is Hawaiian Pizza considered a traditional pizza anyway when all the other pizzas have way more toppings.
An issue close to your heart hey? I hope to give you the information you seek.
A few years ago, food costs/inflation were at the point where Hawaiian at $5 with the rest of the pizzas was turning a loss. This needed to be rectified, and at the time it was only value, traditional and premium ranges. They couldn't make it a higher tier item in the value range because then they'd have to redo all advertising saying that the value range is FROM $5 rather than $5. But they couldn't put it in premium because there was no way to justify it. The compromise was to put it in traditional and give it the selling point of having double the cheese of any other pizza. 160g by default rather than 80g.
Nowadays, we're moving away from the three ranges and giving each pizza it's own price, it's a spectrum now rather than a category system. So the Hawaiian has now been put in it's "value+" tier to so speak. But, sneakily under everyone's noses, 2 months ago they dropped the cheese to line up with every other pizza.
Some people have wisened up to the fact that yes you can make a "Hawaiian" with a ham and cheese + pineapple. The catch is, this has half the pineapple than a Hawaiian. So you'd have to get 2x pineapple (it still works out cheaper though!)
It's not necessarily the topping count that puts pizzas in each category, we have a "double bacon cheeseburger" pizza that's in the "premium range" and has the same number of toppings as a value range beef and onion.
When we see a ham and cheese with pineapple come through we have a moment of silence to respect the wise customer who knows better than to mindlessly give Dominos their money.
Not my heart no. I tend to go for pizzas with pizzaz if you will - the partner likes those.
Thanks for the thoroughly detailed answer.
I'd like to ask you a more questions of a personal nature when it comes to pizzas.
1 - Your favourite dominoes pizza?
2 - Your opinion of Anchovies.
3 - How often do you get pizza that is not from Dominos
Changes everyday, depends what I'm feeling, veggies? Meat? Close your eyes and point at a topping? Trust a coworker to surprise you and inevitably end up with prawn juice poured all over pizza…
Anchovies, depends strongly on the pizza. I do like them now and again. But I have a love hate relationship with them seeing as one of the games at the store is if you leave your can in the open, it will have an anchovies slipped in in no time.
This is ozbargain, who's paying for pizzas when you can get them for free? :)
@User301387: How often do you eat pizza?
Do you not get sick of it?
Can anyone who works there eat pizzas for free or just you?
@lostn: Staff are free to eat what they want. I figure the productivity/moral boost is worth the cost in food.
@User301387: Do they do it every day? It can't be healthy.
For me it's a very occasional treat.
If they have free access to pizzas any time they want, do they take advantage of it often?
@lostn: They're kids, they work it off.
They're very good at moderating honestly, they'll have maybe one a week each? They're much more keen to snatch a GB or can of drink.
Copypasta from the last Domino's ama because it didn't get answered.
I have stopped buying from Domino's since I found ham, twice in my vegetarian pizza.
Just a question - do you actually change gloves for vegetarian pizza or would I have to ask? Or would it get contaminated with meat anyway?
Why is your thickshake so damn expensive?
If you make a point about making a vegetarian pizza, we will too. I wouldn't trust they'd do the right thing so ask them/call them before you order and they'll watch out for you.
Thickshakes are expensive because we use real icecream rather than softserve, better product, but better price. Keep your eye out for happy hour $2.95 thickshakes though!
Thanks for the reply. But if I ask them, will they actually change gloves, like subway?
Ahh, fair enough. I've heard it's really good so will keep an eye out for happy hour to give it a try.
Depends on the store. Nationally, we're trained to use new gloves, utensils, knives, but I'd be much more comfortable if I asked the staff specifically to be careful rather than trust they'd do the right thing.
Whats the deal with vegetarians requesting non meat touching gloves for their order. Religious thing or animal saving thing?
Religious diet thing.
Could be either. People are vegetarian/vegan for different reasons. They both wish to avoid meat though so they don't want meat on their pizza. Therefore if one has to ask for non meat touching gloves it is because they feel if they don't then they will get bits of meat on their pizza.
As a strict vegan, you would never trust vegetarian menu from any place that primarily sells meat-based items in its menu.
There's going to be contamination somewhere down the line, even if it's using the same sponge to clean vegan-assigned utensils as was used to clean utensils that were used with meat. Do they have a separate sink for cleaning vegan utensils when only a small number of orders are veggie pizzas? I somehow doubt it. And it wouldn't surprise me if utensils get mixed up every now and then. Even if they look different, they might use a vegan utensil for meat "just this once" to save time.
I don't expect the low paid under-the-pump employee to give a toss about changing gloves if you have no way of knowing if they did it or not.
Eat at places that only serve vegan menu if you're concerned about that. Or make your own meal, which for me is the only option unless I go to a vegan restaurant.
Fair points. I don't overcomplicate, but younger naïve me took said employees words when they say they don't cross contaminate vegetarian and non-vegetarian stuff. Older me knows better not to buy there. Or have a good home made pizza like I am having now 😋
As a strict vegan
Not sure what a strict vegan is; you're either vegan or you're not.
I get dominos often enough and, going by all my downvotes, I'm the loudest vegan in this village.
If you don't care if some traces of meat find their way into your food, then you're not a strict vegan.
My mum is incredibly strict. Needs separate plates and utensils. If you don't know whether the food was made 'clean' utensils and served on 'clean' plates, assume it is not clean. By clean I mean, it has never ever in its history come into contact with anything you can't eat. If it's not someone she knows, she won't trust it.
Maybe 'fussy' is more to your liking?
By clean I mean, it has never ever in its history come into contact with anything you can't eat.
That's not veganism - which by its very definition is about practical measures to protect non-human interests,and nothing about personal purity. What your mum is into is something else - IMO in the realm of woo or religion.
@afoveht: 'Practical' is a vague word. What is considered practical is ill defined and is open to interpretation. What is practical for one person isn't practical for another, making your quoted definition worthless. You can go as far to stretch it to include meat eating as veganism, if the meat was sourced ethically. How about lab synthesized meats?
She's a vegan for ethical reasons. No meat or animal products. She sticks to that strictly. Gelatin capsules are off limits. Therefore, strict vegan.
If using the word triggers you, how about strict vegetarian then?
For her, it's not religious. But then any religion that demands you not eat meat is going to be based off ethical reasons (or non-human interests as you call it) almost certainly.
The dictionary defines vegan as:
noun
noun: vegan; plural noun: vegans
1.
a person who does not eat or use animal products.
"I'm a strict vegan"
The use of "Strict vegan" came straight out of the dictionary.
Vegan Society opens with:
Veganism is a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.
That is a very open to interpretation statement. As long as it's not 'cruel' it's fine to use animals for food or clothing? She takes greater measures and is more strict about what is considered possible and practical. There is no contradiction in terms.
You don't get to hijack words and force the world to take your definition. Doesn't matter what society you represent.
A lenient teacher is someone who doesn't mind if every now and then you don't do your homework. A strict teacher is someone who checks your homework every day and gives you detention when you don't do it, even if you otherwise have a spotless record. I've had both kinds of teachers.
My mum is 'strict' about how she applies her veganism. If she doesn't trust it, she won't have it. And that's not uncommon.
You can go as far to stretch it to include meat eating as veganism, if the meat was sourced ethically. How about lab synthesized meats?
Sure, if you could source meat ethically then do so. I can't think of any ways to do this. There are marginal cases, like eating roadkill, or bivalves (which are arguably not sentient) that could be considerations for those that desperate for a morsel of flesh.
Nothing wrong with lab meat if it doesn't involve animal exploitation. I'd rather see a world where we move from this pattern, but if it helps others ditch killing animals for their taste buds then I'm all for it.
Veganism ain't about not eating meat, it's about protecting animal interests. Any sensible interpretation of practicality in that context will measure if an animal is being directly and immediately harmed: consuming flesh normally involves those harms, cooking in a pan that once contained flesh doesn't.
I don't have issue with your mum's stance (in fact in many ways I rather respect it) - but conflating it with the simplicity of veganism is improper and makes it a less likely consideration for others who are not yet vegan.
You don't get to hijack words and force the world to take your definition
Neither do you. I presented the definition from the society that invented the word.
Had a look around the coolroom, ~95% aussie! If it's made in Australia then it's 100% Australian as these are generally raw ingredients, like bacon, you can't get half a pig from one country, other from Australia.