Domino's Pizza sales down

DOMINO’S PIZZA saw sales in its Irish outlets fall in 2009, despite achieving a 16 per cent rise in sales across the UK and Ireland.

The company, which cited its successful sponsorship of Britain's Got Talentas one reason for its success in the UK, said customers of its 45 stores in the Republic had experienced a deeper recession than British customers and had cut back on spending to a greater extent.

“In general, the Irish stores are still profitable,” said Domino’s Georgina Wald, “but our Irish stores at the moment are not reflecting the sales in the UK. For like-for-like sales, we are in negative territory.”

While UK customers have “more money in their pockets” as a result of lower mortgage interest rates, “in Ireland, people have less money in their pockets”.

The pizza chain has introduced more special offer deals in a bid to convince customers to return to their takeaway habits.

The company has identified 23 possible locations in the Republic in which it would like to open a new store. Three outlets – in Clonmel, Arklow and Gorey – are due to open within the next six months, it said yesterday.

Electronic ordering, via mobile, e-mail and social networking sites, now accounts for 28 per cent of orders across the British and Irish stores. However, the figure for Irish outlets only is lower.

“We still see further growth in that market in the Republic, as it is behind the UK,” said Ms Wald.

Total sales for Domino’s Pizza UK Irl plc hit almost £407 million (€296 million) in 2009, while pretax profits rose 28 per cent to almost £30 million.

Chief executive Chris Moore said like-for-like revenues (excluding new stores) had continued to increase across the group so far in 2010, with sales up 11 per cent in the first six weeks of the year, despite snowy weather.

Of about 8,900 Domino’s Pizza outlets worldwide, eight of the top 10 stores in terms of sales come under the umbrella of Domino’s Pizza UK Ireland.

Ms Wald declined to give a breakdown of the top 10, but said the highest grossing store was in the UK rather than Ireland.