Domino’s Pizza launches lunch meal deal after slow start to year

Domino’s hopes to open a further 70 shops this year

Domino’s Pizza has launched a meal deal after a slow January in sales.

The company also said it was eyeing a loyalty programme after the start to the year in which it said it did now market its pizzas as much as it could have.

“One of the reasons we held back in January as well was because January is one our quieter months, so we wanted to go fishing when the fish are biting,” chief executive Andrew Renniesaid.

Domino’s is launch a meal deal (PA Archive)

Ads later this year will be aimed at promoting new big launches from the group, including the new £4 lunch offer.

Domino’s said it gained market share last year, rising from 7.1% to 7.2%. It opened 61 pizza shops and expects to open a further 70 this year.

By 2028 the business hopes to have 1,600 sites in the UK and Ireland, and 2,000 by 2033. On Tuesday it separately announced the takeover of Shorecal Limited, the largest Domino’s franchise in the island of Ireland.

A Domino’s Pizza employee worker (REUTERS)

The 72 million euro (£62 million) deal will see it take over 34 of the 99 Domino’s sites currently operating in the Republic and Northern Ireland.

“For the first time ever we’re launching a £4 lunch deal that will be launched in the next couple of weeks,” Mr Rennie said.

The deal will include smaller items from the menu, including pizzas, wraps and cookies.

The chief executive also said the business expects to be able to launch a loyalty programme for regular customers later this year.

He said that testing was already under way and the business is letting itself be driven by the data it sees.

Mr Rennie said: “I’m pretty confident based on what I’m seeing that it’s going to be very strong.

“I’d be very surprised if we didn’t find a way forward to launch it completely later in the year.”

He was unable to reveal many details of the loyalty scheme but promised “it will have a couple of additional twists to it, but I can’t give that away, I’m afraid, because it is market-sensitive, because it’s quite unique.”