Retail

Domino's CEO Don Meij says will continue tech investments, expanding outlets after record profit

Domino's: We're launching new menus in Australia, NZ
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Domino's: We're launching new menus in Australia, NZ

On the heels of gangbusters earnings, Domino's Pizza Enterprises plans to continue marrying its pizzas with technology, CEO Don Meij told CNBC's "Street Signs."

"All of the growth is coming from the technology that we're rolling out," he said.

The tech investments can be seen in the earnings: Australia-listed Domino's Pizza Enterprises reported on Tuesday that net profit for the year ended June 30 jumped around 29 percent to A$82.4 million ($63.32 million).

Meij cited explosive growth in online ordering, which outstripped like-for-like store sales.

"Japan was 31 percent online order growth, all the way up to parts of Europe, where we had over 120 percent order growth," he said. "We continue to digitally expand."

In part to meet customer demand from the surge in online ordering, Domino's planned major store expansions in its markets.

Meij said he expected organic growth from around 2,000 stores currently to around 4,600 stores over the next nine years, not including acquisitions. He planned to double the number of outlets in the Australia-New Zealand business over the next five to six years, estimating the company will have 1,200 stores there by 2025, up from the just over 700 currently.

"We need more stores to be able to access all that pent-up demand," he said.

Even though same-store sales contracted in Japan, Domino's was still planning to expand there as well, Meij noted, adding that profit rose around 25 percent there. He noted that Domino's was already Japan's largest pizza company, with more than 450 stores, and he planned to reach 500 outlets by year-end, with a goal of 850 ahead.

"It's still a meaningful market," he said. "It's just consumption in Japan isn't the same as we have in Australia and New Zealand. It's not the same we have in Europe. So the outlook isn't quite as bullish."

Beyond relying on technology to take orders, Domino's was also investing in data deep-dives to time its pizza-making, including using GPS tracking.

"In the old-world pizza stores, you place an order and come down to pick it up and maybe it's not ready or maybe the pizza's been sitting there for 15 minutes," he said. "Now we can see if you're walking, you're riding, you're driving, and we can time that pizza experience."

Philippe Huguen | AFP | Getty Images


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—By CNBC.Com's Leslie Shaffer; Follow her on Twitter @LeslieShaffer1