Domino's Pizza Inc., founded in 1960, is an American pizza chain with over 6,000 international locations. In October 2023, it announced that 500 outlets in India would serve only vegetarian options during the Navratri festival, aiming to cater to the dietary restrictions of Hindu customers, despite the potential disappointment for non-vegetarian patrons. This strategic decision is part of a broader effort to address slowing sales growth and adapt to changing consumer behavior amid increasing competition.

1. DOMINO’S
ABOUT
Domino's Pizza Inc. is an American pizza restaurant chain. The
corporation is headquartered at the Domino Farms Office Park Ann
Arbor Charter Township, Michigan, United States, near Ann Arbor,
Michigan. Founded in the United States in 1960, Domino's is in 82
countries, making it the second-largest franchised pizza
chain after Pizza Hut.
In 1960, Tom Monaghan and his brother, James, purchased
DomiNick's, a small pizza store at 301 West Cross Street in Ypsilanti,
Michigan, near Eastern Michigan University. The deal was secured by
a $500 down payment, and the brothers borrowed $900 to pay for the
store. The brothers planned to split the work hours evenly, but James
didn't want to quit his job as a full-time postman to keep up with the
demands of the new business. Within eight months, James traded his
half of the business to Tom for the Volkswagen Beetle they used for
pizza deliveries. By 1965, Tom Monaghan had purchased two
additional pizzerias; he now had a total of three locations in the same
county. Monaghan wanted the stores to share the same branding, but
the original owner forbade him from using the DomiNick's name. One

2. day an employee returned from a pizza delivery and suggested the
name Domino's. Monaghan immediately loved the idea and officially
renamed the business Domino's Pizza, Inc. in 1965.
The company logo originally had three dots, representing the three
stores in 1965. Monaghan planned to add a new dot with the addition
of every new store, but this idea quickly faded, as Domino's
experienced rapid growth. Domino's Pizza opened its first franchise
location in 1967 and by 1978, the company expanded to 200 stores. In
1975, Domino's faced a lawsuit by Amstar Corporation, the maker of
Domino Sugar, alleging trademark infringement and unfair
competition. On May 2, 1980, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
in New Orleans found in favor of Domino's Pizza.
Internationalexpansion
On May 12, 1983, Domino's opened its first international store,
in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. That same year, Domino's opened its
1,000th store overall. In 1985, they opened their first store in the
United Kingdom in Luton. Also, in 1985, Domino's opened their first
store in Tokyo, Japan. In 1993, they became the second American
franchise to open in the Dominican Republic and the first one to open
in Haiti, under the direction of entrepreneur Luis de Jesús
Rodríguez. By 1995, Domino's had expanded to 1,000 international
locations. In 1997, Domino's opened its 1,500th international location,
opening seven stores in one day across five continents. By 2014, the
company had grown to 6,000 international locations and was planning
to expand to pizza's birthplace, Italy; this was achieved on October 5,
2015, in Milan with the first restaurant. CEO Patrick Doyle, in May
2014, said the company would concentrate on its delivery model
there.
In February 2016, Domino's opened its 1,000th store in India.

3. This is a screenshot of how dominos.co.in looks like through which
we can order online.
Consumer Behaviour
Consumer behaviour is the how individuals, groups select buy, use,
dispose the products and services offered by pizza hut, in order to
satisfy their wants and needs. Following are the factors that influence
the consumer behaviour of the individuals or groups:
Cultural Factors
The cultural factors like, the individuals who are not acquainted with
the pizza culture may not be willing to try pizza hut. The different
culture upbringing effects the buying decision of the customers. An
individual who is brought up in a traditional south-Indian family may
not be acquainted with the pizza culture his might influence him.
Whereas, an individual brought up in a metro, would be acquainted to
it and would be more willing to try pizza hut.
Social Factors
The social factors like the references the reference groups, aspiration
groups would have a direct influence on the individual. The family,
role and status of the individual also affect the buying decision
process. Example, in a family the father might decides where to go to

4. dine on a weekend; the other members are bound to follow. So, this
affects the choice of the other family members also.
Personal Factors
The personal factors include the age and stage in life cycle,
occupation and economic circumstances, personality, life style and
values effect the buying decision of the person. A person, who likes to
have Italian cuisine, would come to Pizza hut .here the personality
plays the factor which is influencing the individual.
The Buying Decision Process
The above diagram represents the buying decision process. Each step
can further explained in the following way:
Problem Recognition
In this stage, the individual faces a problem of hunger. So, he would
have a need of having food.
Information Search
This is the next stage, where the individual looks for information .he
might look for different cuisines that he can have. He might end up
deciding on the cuisine that he wants to have. He will then look for
the possible options in that particular cuisine. Example, if he wants to
have Italian, he might find out about all the Italian restaurants, food
courts.

5. Evaluation of Alternatives
In this stage he evaluates the alternatives that are available. He might
take the final decision based on things like the time factor, reach of
the restaurant, prices, food variety etc comparing it in different places.
He would evaluate the alternatives like pizza hut, dominos, U.S pizza,
and local Italian restaurants.
Purchase Decision
The next stage is the final stage of buying the service. The individual
would finally decide on the place where he wants to have his food. He
might go to the convenient place to him. He might go to pizza hut, for
its food, prices and services offered.
Post Purchase behavior
The final stage is the post purchase stage, where the individual
decides whether to go to the place or not. If he is happy with the
service, he would re visit the place. He might also suggest people to
go to the place if he likes the service that is offered. If not, he might
not visit the place and would also suggest others not to go.
Feasting during Fast
Domino’s to go vegetarian for 9 days; will only serve
Navratri menu in 500 outlets from October 1:
Not only will the food be vegetarian, it will also be prepared without
onions, garlic, wheat flour and other ingredients which Hindus abstain
from during Navratri. The pizza bases will be made of water chestnut
flour and only rock salt will be used for taste.
This is going to be disappointing for meat lovers in India. One of the
leading American food chains in India, Domino’s Pizza is walking the
extra mile this time around, to attract more customers. The
international restaurant chain has announced that it will only sell
vegetarian food in 500 outlets- almost half its total number of stores
in India- during the nine-day Navratri festival- one of the most

6. important festival of Hindus. The decision has been taken keeping in
mind that followers of Hinduism keep away from meat during nine
days of the festival which is celebrated every year before Dussehra
and Diwali.
The move comes as the Indian unit of the retail food chain struggles
to recover from its slowest same-store sales growth in almost two
years. Starting from October 1, till October 10, scores of Domino’s
outlets across North and central India will stop serving non-vegetarian
food. According to a report in the Economic Times, this is the first
time that a western-style quick service restaurant (QSR), is modifying
its menu for Navratris, on such a large scale. Domino’s has served
vegetarian-only food before too during Navratri, but the exercise has
been limited to only select stores, and delivery option has been
unavailable before.
The extra measures are being taken to ensure good sales even during
Navratris, when earnings of food outlets and QSRs usually go down.
Domino’s Pizza India President Dev Amritesh said in a statement,
“Consumption of non-vegetarian food reduces significantly during
this time. This move is an acknowledgement that though we are a
global brand, we are conscious about consumer needs. It’s about
making a statement to consumers.” Not only will the food be
vegetarian, it will also be prepared without onions, garlic, wheat flour.
The pizza bases will be made of water chestnut flour and only rock
salt will be used for taste.
Saabudaan crispies and dumplings will also be added to the menu.
Amritesh said that modifying the menu and converting it on such a
large scale was logistically not an easy task. “Pizza being a very
versatile product, we have been able to create this menu,” he added.
Domino’s is the current leader of the pizza market in India which
occupies over 70 per cent of the share, with over a 1,000 restaurants
all across the country. However, owning to new consumer behaviour
where they are cutting back on discretionary spending, the sales
growth of the restaurant has been steadily slowing down.

7. Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, which is the exclusive India franchisee of
Domino’s and Dunkin’ Donuts, recorded a 3.2 per cent year-on-year
drop in same-store sales growth, for the April-June quarter. Given the
high competition faced by the chain from other QSR chains like
McDonalds, Subway and KFC, innovation was found to be the key to
boost sales growth and achieve continued success. Jubilant
FoodWorkd Ltd has adopted other promotion methods too, like ‘Buy
one, get one free’ schemes. During the April-June quarter, the
company added 23 new outlets, much lesser than the 35 restaurants
that it added last year. However, it has retained a target of adding 130-
140 stores in the current financial year.
Domino’s Navratri Special: All Veg Menu leaving a
Bad Taste in Meatlover’s Mouths?
The beginning of October marked the start of the auspicious festival
of Navratri, the 10 days and 9 nights long festival. It is believed one
should stop consuming onion, garlic and common salt, if not fasting
during the period. While everyone was gearing up to worship goddess
Durga, Domino’s India went a step further and stated that more than

8. half of its outlets will turn fully vegetarian for this festival period to
please the customers observing the Navratri rituals.
Starting from October 1, almost 500 Domino’s outlets in northern,
central and parts of western India including states such as Gujarat,
Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have been
serving only vegetarian items in their menu. It is being believed that
Domino’s has made this unique move to boost its customer base and
overcome the loss of growth it has incurred in the same store growth
rate in the last year. Almost all food outlets see a loss of sales during
Navratri period, due to lesser people consuming non-veg and foods
with onion or garlic in them.
Domino’s India has in fact brought vegetarian only offers in the past
but it was limited to a few stores only without an option for delivery.
But this time, Domino’s has decided to take it a step further. Apart
from going all vegetarian in almost 500 outlets, Domino’s has
included special Navaratri items in the menu, which includes pizza
bases made from Singhara Atta (Water Chestnut Flour), sabudana
crispies, and cheese & sauces prepared using rock salt while making
sure there is no usage of Garlic and Onion in these special pizzas.
While this decision has been applauded by many, the non-veg
consumer base has been deeply disappointed. Going all vegetarian in
a country which constitutes of only around 30% vegetarians,
Domino’s might have lost more than it hopes to gain. With no option
to order non-vegetarian pizzas online or offline, many people are
feeling dejected.

9. One such customer had a disappointing experience with Domino’s
while trying to order Non-vegetarian pizza during the Navratri. He
took to social media to share his grievance and also posted the
screenshots of his conversation with the Domino’s customer support
exectuve. He also went on to rant and question this move of Domino's
as border-line non-secular behavior