Domino's Pizza finally launched its own cheese pizza on Monday, aiming to win over customers willing to pay more for pricey, custom-made pizzas. Thirty years ago, Pizza Hut, a unit of Yum Brands, launched cheese pizza and marketed it with a TV commercial featuring Donald Trump. As time went on, rivals Papa John's and Little Caesars eventually launched their own versions of cheese pizza. And Trump went from selling pizza to winning the White House.
Generations of consumers have grown up with Cheesy Pizza, including the increasingly important Generation Z diners, who are now entering the workforce and buying their own pizza. For Domino's, the top U.S. pizza chain, adding cheese pizza is crucial to compete with rivals Pizza Hut and Papa John's, which have continued to steal customers even as they have ceded some market share to Domino's in recent quarters.
“Nearly 13 million Domino’s customers buy cheese pizza from our competitors each year,” said Kate Trumbull, Domino’s chief marketing officer. “These are customers we lose because we are the only national pizza brand that doesn’t offer cheese pizza.”
According to Trumbull, Domino's took so long to introduce cheese pizza that a survey of its customers found that 73 percent already thought the item was on the chain's menu.
But that all changed on Monday, when Domino's unveiled its Parmesan cheese pizza. The item is included in the pizza chain's $9.99 takeout menu.
According to Trumbull, when Pizza Hut first introduced the cheese pizza, Domino's thought the dish was a gimmick. In addition, the company heard that the cheese pizza created a production bottleneck, slowed down service, and led to dissatisfied customers and employees.
But Domino's views changed after more national rivals followed Pizza Hut's lead and introduced cheese pizza. The chain committed to launching its own cheese pizza in 2022, just as its sales were declining in the wake of the COVID-19 pizza craze.
"This is one of the longest R&D projects in the history of the company," Trumbull said.
The process begins with extensive market research. Survey results show that customers who buy cheese pizza tend to buy pizza more frequently and spend more each time.
It took eight possible attempts before Domino's settled on the recipe for its Parmesan cheese pizza, which featured mozzarella cheese, topped with garlic seasoning and a dash of Parmesan cheese.
Meanwhile, Domino's has been improving its overall restaurant operations, retraining employees across the system in crust making and rolling out custom dough spinners to restaurants. Trumbull said the pizza chain wouldn't have been able to launch the pizza without making its kitchens more efficient.
Before launching the Parmesan cheese pizza, the pizza chain spent 12 weeks training franchisees and its 7,000 stores on how to make the product properly.
"After spending three years, we're not going to leave anything to chance," Trumbull said.