From Dial-Up Internet To Texting An Emoji: How Ordering A Pizza Transformed Over The Decades

Patrick Doyle is a 20-year veteran with Domino's Pizza, Inc. DPZ, so he helped guide the pizza chain's ordering strategy away from phoning locations to dial-up internet connections.

As noted by Gadfly's Shelly Banjo, Domino's can count more than half of its sales from digital channels. Consumers are embracing the many ways of ordering a pizza, which helped boost sales at established U.S. locations by 13 percent in the most recent quarter.

Meanwhile, investors are pleased with the company's ability to innovate to the point where its stock has grown nearly 50 percent over the past year at a time when the restaurant industry is showing signs of struggling.

Banjo pointed out that sales at restaurant chains tracked by MillerPulse rose just 0.3 percent in November on a year-over-year basis after six months of yearly declines. Consumers are demanding a special experience when they go out to restaurants and similarly demand speedy deliveries when ordering in.

Since nearly every Domino's location is operated by franchisees, the head office can focus its investments on creating the most efficient ordering system possible — that is also fun for consumers. For example, consumers can dictate an order through Amazon's Alexa or by texting a pizza emoji.

Always looking to innovate, Domino's is now studying driverless cars and even pizza-delivering drones.

Image Credit: "Colonel Nicholas F. Marano, commanding officer, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, speaks during the official grand opening of the Camp Horno's Domino's Pizza, March 9." released by the United States Marine Corps with the ID 110309-M-6664G-156 [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons