Digital Delivery

From the presentation given by Heather, Jen and Maureen yesterday that centered around Papa Gino’s, and earned my teammate John a free lunch, I was reminded of advances that another pizza company has taken in their approach to IT and conducting business: Dominos Pizza.

While I was an undergrad at UMass Amherst, Dominos made a killing due to both the high number of students in the surrounding Five Colleges (UMass, Amherst College, Hampshire, Smith and Mt. Holyoke) and the fact that they were open until 4AM, which was the latest of any restaurant in the area. Since I indulged myself in their food, I stumbled upon their “Order Online” option and frequently used it in place of making an actual phone call in the morning’s wee hours. However, it was not until after I had earned my Bachelor’s and began pursuing my MSM at Bridgewater that I realized how Dominos was beginning to progress their business with the use of IT.

With just a few clicks of a mouse, a customer can add toppings, side orders, drinks or whatever else they choose to a personalized online order payable by either cash or credit card. With phone calls rapidly taking a back seat to an influx of text messaging and BBM’ing alike, it seems clear that online orders could soon take over for food services as well. Plus, unlike an actual phone call with an employee who may estimate that your order could take “about 30 minutes”, online ordering for Dominos does not end once an order is placed. A timeline that starts when an employee begins prepping your order, to when it enters the oven, to when it is packaged and the delivery man/woman leaves the store with your order is available for all online orders, keeping the customer in the loop of exactly when to expect that doorbell to ring.

                                               (screen shot of Domino's Pizza Tracker)

IT is beginning to make strides in the food industry, as seen by a 51% increase in online sales for Dominos Pizza in the UK, making online orders responsible for 42% of overall UK sales according to CEO Chris Moore. In addition, an app for the Apple iPad will soon join Dominos’ iPhone and Android apps, which currently account for 4% of all online sales. And if all goes according to Moore’s plan, by 2015 two-thirds of all Dominos sales will occur through one of their online platforms.

The world, like its’ pizza, is certainly becoming more flat as Thomas Friedman, who made note of an electronic ordering system for McDonalds at his MIT lecture might say. Now it’s just a question of how long it’ll be before glitches in the system bring you a pasta bowl instead of buffalo wings.