Domino's® Pizza in Italy? Oh Yes We Did

Brand honors home of pizza with local menu

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Oct 05, 2015, 07:30 ET

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Oct. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- How do you introduce "American pizza" to the original home of one of the world's most popular foods? For a global brand like Domino's, the answer is: you don't.

Instead, you introduce an American-founded brand launched by local ownership, which sources 100 percent local ingredients to create what is ultimately a local pizza menu. The result: Domino's (NYSE:DPZ) today opened its first store in Italy, in the northern city of Milan.

ePizza S.p.A, doing business as Domino's Pizza Italia, holds the new master franchise rights to operate the Domino's brand in Italy. The franchise, led by Alessandro Lazzaroni, 36, plans to open three stores in Milan before year's end. Lazzaroni has years of successful, entrepreneurial experience behind him, as he recently served as commercial retail director of Galbuser, a premium Italian bakery company. He also served as business insights and marketing manager for McDonald's.

"Domino's is a global brand, with American roots, and we're proud to be able to introduce it to the Italian people – with a twist," said Lazzaroni. "We will be using a recipe created by us, using locally-sourced wheat. Everything else is purely Italian. We are purchasing all of our products from Italian producers. We've created our own recipe, starting for the original pizza recipe, with Italian products, like 100 percent tomato sauce and mozzarella, and products like Prosciutto di Parma, Gorgonzola, Grana Padano and Mozzarella di bufala Campana.

"We will also leverage Domino's excellence in technology, being able to operate online delivery as nobody else, to bring to Italian people what is fully missing today: a very good local pizza served at home quickly and hot, which can be ordered online with few clicks and at a very competitive price."

"The beauty of pizza is in its customization," said Richard Allison, president of Domino's International. "Pizza can be made to appeal to the tastes of the individual. It can also be customized to meet the tastes of an entire market, and that's we've done here. We have found great local ownership who wants to take our business model of great food delivered quickly and give it an Italian 'flavor.' We're proud to be the brand that the newly-formed franchise company wants to introduce to their fellow Italians.

"Italy can be a major milestone for the recognized world leader in pizza delivery, as no major American pizza brand has successfully entered the market," Allison continued. "We're going where no major pizza brand has gone before."

Italians are said to eat pizza an average of seven times per month.

In addition to the traditional Margherita (favored by 70 percent of Italian consumers), Domino's will offer all other favorites such as Napoli and Sicilian. Desserts on the menu include other local products, including Tortino Al Cioccolato and Tiramisu. Customers will be able to order at www.dominositalia.it.

About Domino's Pizza^®Founded in 1960, Domino's Pizza is the recognized world leader in pizza delivery, with a significant business in carryout pizza. It ranks among the world's top public restaurant brands with a global enterprise of more than 12,100 stores in over 80 international markets. Domino's had global retail sales of over $8.9 billion in 2014, comprised of more than $4.1 billion in the U.S. and nearly $4.8 billion internationally. In the third quarter of 2015, Domino's had global retail sales of over $2.1 billion, comprised of over $1.0 billion in the U.S. and over $1.1 billion internationally. Its system is comprised of independent franchise owners who accounted for nearly 97% of Domino's stores as of the third quarter of 2015. Emphasis on technology innovation helped Domino's generate approximately 50% of U.S. sales from digital channels at the end of 2014, and reach an estimated run rate of $4.0 billion annually in global digital sales. Domino's features an ordering app lineup that covers nearly 95% of the U.S. smartphone market and has recently introduced several innovative ordering platforms, including Ford SYNC^®, Samsung Smart TV^® and Pebble Watch, as well as Twitter and text message using a pizza emoji. In June 2014, Domino's debuted voice ordering for its iPhone^® and Android^™ apps, a true technology first within traditional and e-commerce retail.