CNN reported that in the first three months of 2022, home delivery from Domino’s Pizza locations open for a year or more fell nearly 11% from the first quarter of 2021. Former CEO Ritch Allison (who, according to Reuters, retired at the end of last month), said on an analyst call in April that he was “disappointed” by lackluster delivery sales, which were partly due to a shortage of available drivers.
The shortage has been a problem for the pizza chain since last December, when Allison told industry analysts that drivers staying home from work were becoming a big problem, in part due to the omicron variant of COVID-19 ( via Restaurant Business Online). In March, he predicted that staffing delivery drivers would remain a challenge for the chain, a truth that CNN says was confirmed in the first quarter of this year.
The staffing issue affected other pizza chains, including Pizza Hut, and resulted in shorter opening hours at some locations in addition to longer wait times for delivery. In addition to trying to hire more delivery people, CNN reported that some pizza chains plan to outsource delivery calls to call centers and transfer existing employees to delivery. They are also considering using third-party delivery services such as DoorDash, a move Domino’s has so far resisted. “Nothing is on the table,” current Domino CEO Russell Weiner said on the April call.
Only time will tell if pizza chains are able to hire more drivers or turn to third-party companies, but for now don’t be surprised if your pizza delivery no longer promises 20 minutes or less.
