Domino’s restaurant on Wednesday opened its doors to customers on Awolowo Road Ikoyi, a major high street in the heart of high brow Ikoyi. From when it entered the Nigerian market in 2012, Domino’s Pizza has adopted a model of opening in every major highway in Lagos.
Its latest branch on Awolowo road is perhaps its most significant yet considering how strategic the location is. The Ikoyi outlet boasts of not just Domino’s Pizza but Cold Stone and Pinkberry giving its customers the full compliment of its offerings. Domino’s typically opens branches with or without the Cold Stone Franchise and just last year added Pinkberry, Yoghurt makers to its stores.
With the closure of Munchies on Awolowo Road, Domino’s Pizza is now the only major fast food restaurant on the high street apart from Tastee Fried Chicken. The strategic branch now serves a location filled with insurance companies, banks, boutiques, telcos and a host of other small businesses.
Dominos the market leader
In 2012, Eat ‘N’ Go Restaurant Group, the master franchisee for Domino’s Pizza Nigeria, was introduced to the QSR market in Nigeria and since making its entry into the country, Domino’s has continued to increase its number of outlets and currently has over 83 outlets located on major high streets and in major cities around the country.
Housed in see-through apartments, most of its outlets in Lagos are strategically located on major highways. Notable outlets in Lagos include Awolowo road in Ikoyi, Ajose Adeogun, Saka Tinubu located on the Victoria Island, Ajah on the Lekki-Epe Expressway, Yaba, Magodo, Ilupeju, Apapa, and Ikorodu just to mention a few.
While Domino’s Pizza is not the first pizza delivery service to enter the Nigerian market, South Africa’s Debonairs Pizza brand expanded into the market a few years earlier, however, Domino’s seems to be expanding faster and gaining a larger market share in that segment.
According to the CEO Eat ‘N’ Go Restaurant Group franchise owner for Domino’s in Nigeria, Jean-Claude Meyer, the group is dedicated to bringing the best Food and Beverage brands and concepts to the Nigerian market.
No doubts Nigerians are lovers of spicy and tasty foods, and one of the strategies that have worked for Domino’s is its ability to adapt its menu to popular local tastes in the Nigerian market. It has introduced new offerings such as Jollof rice, a popular West African dish, as a pizza topping and also the Chicken Suya Pizza.
In its six years of operation, Domino’s has also added an Ice-cream parlor chain, Coldstone Creamery and also recently introduced the popular frozen yogurt brand Pinkberry to its offering.
Improving on its local supply chain
Introducing new taste and products into the Nigerian market comes with a huge opportunity, however, this also comes with its own challenges such as educating your new customers on how these international brands offer edible food and suitable alternative for their meals.
Another challenge of being a first mover in the Nigeria market means that these companies become responsible for developing the industry that surrounds them.
According to the management of Domino’s the high cost of importing ingredients into the country has forced the company to invest in developing the local supply chain in order to get the ingredients required to make the products for Domino’s Pizza and Coldstone Creamery menu.
In addition to the cost of developing the local supply chain, Domino’s Pizza and Cold Stone Creamery just like other QSRs, continue to face a high cost of electricity and have to invest in backup generators, boreholes and water treatment facilities in all their stores.
Whatever Domino’s Pizza is doing to maintain that ‘newness’ for the past six years needs to be sustained or it might soon go the way of Mr. Bigg’s and others.
About Domino’s Pizza
It was founded in 1960, and was recognised as the world leader in pizza delivery. Domino’s is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol “DPZ.” It operates a network of 9,924 franchised and Company-owned stores in the United States and over 70 international markets.