In May Domino’s Austria closed1. Or rather Domino’s Vienna, since the chain never left the borders of the capital during its 9 years on the market. So let’s take a look together at what might have gone wrong.
Pricing
I think this is the most obvious reason, but it really can’t be stressed enough: A Pizza Margherita at Domino’s was priced 14.90 Euro. That’s before adding any extras like cheese crust (+3.5), or pan pizza (+2.3). Just for comparison, at Via Toledo Enopizzeria2 a Margherita costs 12 Euro.
Of course, Domino’s always had various special offers mitigating this issue, like 1+1 offers or menu discounts. However, I would usually get a Pizza spontaneously and 1+1 is too much for one person. Also, with certain customizations, one of the big plus points of Domino’s at least for me, that never quite worked out. And finally, the example mentioned above shows you the pricing compared to an actual restaurant, now just imagine how it fares against any cheap around the corner Kebap place pizza.
Service and on-site experience
If you would decide to eat at Domino’s directly you got a very well hidden but always clean toilet. But that’s about it, there were no plates and fittingly no real cutlery. I feel this is a particular feature of US chains, believing they can just use one concept worldwide ignoring basic local customs. Something for example Cinnabon did similarly badly during their brief time in Austria.
Of course Domino’s is rather meant for pick-up or delivery, something I learned the hard way in Japan. However, in Austria they did offer quite spacious on-site seating. But to come back to the pricing argument, if you out-price restaurants but only offer wooden cutlery, something feels off. Sure, the hardcore Domino’s fans will tell me that it’s supposed to be eaten by hand, but we’re trying to figure out here what didn’t work since obviously something (or everything) went wrong.
Delivery
At work we had a Domino’s roughly 2 kilometers away or something about 8 minutes via bike. So, you would assume we could have ordered there via the official website. But sadly no, Domino’s did not offer to deliver, and we had to order via Foodora, which in turn has way less customization options. Again, the main differentiator of Domino’s, resulting in substantial fewer orders from us. Makes me wonder if anyone else experienced something similar?
Why bother?
If I’m complaining so much, why do I bother? Because I like Domino’s! Remember my remark about Japan before? You can imagine how I learned that… I also specifically made the effort to visit them in Floridsdorf in May before they close, just to have one last Pizza: Thin crust with BBQ sauce, pineapples, and jalapeños. You can immediately guess that only Domino’s could provide this kind of weirdness and I really loved it. I also like the dough and how it tastes.
But all the points above made it tougher and tougher to justify a visit. This very Pizza I mentioned cost me 18,80 Euro. And it was never significantly cheaper than this. The only reason I went to Domino’s is for this specific weird offering. But “normal” Pizza I would probably get at any random Pizza place in Vienna, as soon as it is Neapolitan style it should be fine (taste wise) and cheaper. And I highly assume that I was not the only one reaching that conclusion.