Domino’s Rejected DoorDash—and Crushed the Competition

What Happened

In the late 2010s, the food delivery market was being shaken up by new tech-driven platforms like Uber Eats, Postmates, and DoorDash. Restaurants rushed to partner with them, hoping for quick gains. The media was filled with excitement about these platforms “revolutionizing” food delivery. It seemed like a gold rush—and Domino’s was expected to join.

But they didn’t. Why?

Because Domino’s was paying attention beneath the headlines.

CEO Ritch Allison and his team monitored public data, quarterly reports, and industry news to spot something others ignored: the economics didn’t add up. Stories across industry journals and business media revealed three things:

• Delivery platforms charged restaurants up to 30% commission per order.
• These platforms owned the customer relationship, not the restaurants.
• Delivery times were often inconsistent, damaging customer satisfaction.

Domino’s saw the insight: if they gave up their delivery operations to third parties, they would sacrifice both profits and customer experience. So they went the opposite route: they invested in their own logistics tech, optimized delivery routes, built more locations closer to customers, and launched features like “pizza trackers” and fortressing (opening stores closer together to reduce delivery radius).

Between 2018 and 2021, Domino’s stock price nearly doubled. Papa John’s, on the other hand, saw declining margins and slower recovery until they began building internal tech years later.

How Briefed Could've Helped

Domino’s made the right call—but it took deep executive attention, combing through fragmented industry news, and connecting the dots across multiple stories and data points. With Briefed, that same insight could have emerged earlier, faster, and without relying on gut instinct alone.

Insight Engine Tailored to Your Business:

• Briefed would have surfaced clear, actionable insights from public news—like rising platform fees, declining customer satisfaction on third-party apps, and growing consumer preference for consistent in-house delivery.
• “Third-party delivery platforms eroding restaurant margins by up to 30%—in-house logistics may offer a competitive edge.”
• “Brands using DoorDash/Uber Eats seeing customer service complaints rise in reviews and press coverage.”

Clustering Dashboard for Market Signals:

• Domino’s leadership could have visually spotted that news stories around "delivery app complaints," "commission rates," and "ownership of customer experience" were growing fast—clear signs of brewing industry friction.

Summaries for Situational Awareness:

• Daily or weekly summaries would have kept execs up to speed without overwhelming them—highlighting the major moves of competitors, platform changes, and customer experience trends—all in one place.

Chat-Based Research:

• Executives or analysts could have asked natural language questions like:
• “What are the risks of joining Uber Eats?”
• “How are restaurants reacting to third-party delivery fees?”
• “Has any brand improved delivery times without using DoorDash?”
• And gotten sourced answers in seconds, instead of long-form reports or scattered links.

With Briefed, Domino’s still would’ve made the bold move—but with less noise, more clarity, and without relying on a few smart people manually spotting the trend. Today, your team could do the same—not by being genius, but by being briefed.