Domino’s enters the stuffed crust wars

Domino’s yesterday added a parmesan cheese stuffed crust to US menus, marking the first time it’s ever sold a stuffed-crust item in its ~65 years of slingin’ ‘za.

Why now? America’s top pizza chain by sales wants to better compete with rivals like Pizza Hut and Papa John’s, which regularly steal its customers with their stuffed crust offerings.

• “Nearly 13 million Domino’s customers each year [mostly young people] are buying stuffed crust from our competitors…these are our customers who have to leave our brand because we’re the only national pizza brand that doesn’t offer it,” Domino’s CMO Kate Trumbull told CNBC.
• Domino’s has taken so long to release stuffed crust that a survey of its customers found 73% already believed the chain offered it on the menu, per Trumbull.

The origin story: A Brooklyn construction supervisor secured a patent for stuffed crust pizza back in 1987, and (unsuccessfully) tried to sue Pizza Hut for $1 billion following its rollout of the offering in 1995. At the time, Domino’s leadership believed stuffed crusts were just going to be a fad and would slow down the kitchen’s speed.

📸 Big picture: The Ann Arbor-based pizza chain is hoping its new stuffed crust offering will provide a shot-in-the-arm to sales, like it’s done for rivals. Domino's missed estimates for quarterly same-store sales in Q4, and said the consumer environment for fast food would remain pressured in 2025.