Now I’m really getting pissed.
I just got a threatening letter from Domino’s Pizza. They are not happy about the ad we are running that calls them out for making their pizza dough in factories.
Excuse me for telling the truth!
This truth: Dominos makes their dough in factories and ships it to their stores several times a month. WHAT THE TRUCK, right!?
At Toppers we make our dough from true scratch every single day in the kitchen of every single restaurant. Our pizza people are makers and bakers baby!
Toppers Team Members in Duluth, MN
I can’t tell you how proud we are of the decision we’ve made to continue making our dough this way. Our pizza and Topperstix are better because of it! It’s not the easiest or cheapest way to do it, that’s for sure; but we think it makes us better, and so do thousands and thousands of Toppers Pizza fanatics.
Listen, we don’t have Wall Street money to rain down the advertising. We have quality. We have that our people care and believe in what we do. We have a killer menu with bold flavors and great ingredients. (We also have great deals).
Now Domino’s is threatening us to shut up or they will “be forced to take further legal action…”. Apparently they think we shouldn’t be able to tell people about the REAL things that we do differently. This is America! Tell the truth and let the people decide.
If they don’t like us saying that they make their dough in factories and we make ours in our restaurant kitchens, then they should change the way they do it!
I recently read that the Domino’s CEO said, “Domino’s has become something closer to a tech company that sells pizza.” Ha! I agree. Your stock is kicking butt, but I’m not a fan of the way you make your pizza! Next time I want Alexa to order me a pizza with crust made in a factory, I’ll check out your newest tech! Until then I’m gonna keep getting the best pizza on earth at www.toppers.com.
Domino’s is a Wall Street darling, dough-made-in-a-factory, tech company that happens to make pizza, pizza place. They should just be proud and own and embrace that.
Toppers is the made-from-scratch, made-with-love, locally owned and fighting the good fight pizza place; and we are going to own and embrace that.
So what to do about this threat from Domino’s … I’d rather we keep our focus on pizza and providing quality to our customers, but if I can’t stand up for how we do it, no one can. Of course we have our own attorneys too. We are completely confident that what we’re saying and how we’re saying it is not only completely legal and fair, it’s the truth.
So to Domino’s, expect me to do what our tag line says: NEVER SETTLE!
Proudly representing Toppers Pizza people in 86 ass-kicking restaurants,
Scott
Don’t forget – Pizza Hut and Papa John’s makes their dough in factories too, no respect for pizza or their customers. Keep fighting the good fight!
Thanks for your post and for being a pizza lover yourself!
The best pizzas are made from scratch and by hand with an extra dose of love for the customer.
Always keep it real Scott!
Fresh dough and quality cheese. The difference is definitely noticed. #toppersfamilyalways
I miss toppers so much since I moved from the university to Huntersville. Please open up here! The pizza was so good and kept so well. Also, fun fact, when I worked for dominos we mixed our sauce concentrate with sinkwater in a bucket in the back where we cleaned dishes with a dewalt post hole digger. They figured they could cut cost by mixing it themselves instead of shipping mixed sauce.
I am curious if you believe a franchise can deliver exact same quality pizzas in 5600 stores making dough in house? Is the real difference that you just add water to a bag of dough and put in a machine everyday or do you literally knead your pizza doughs everyday by hand in your 86 restaurants?
Quality labor is a huge factor when it comes to larger franchises and asking for it across the board requires some sort of standard process that can be kept by any random person applying for the job off the street.
What I’m trying to say is in a factory their are specialized health codes and regulations that may not exactly be translatable to a standard pizza shop. After all delivery drivers tend to have beards and women long hair. Your dough area would have to be absolutely pristine to compete with the standards of a factory whose main focus is food health safety.
It does seem like a risk in quality pizza from store to store to me. :/
Hi Colleen,
Great comment and questions.
First of all, YES, WE ‘LITERALLY KNEAD OUR PIZZA DOUGHS EVERYDAY BY HAND’ IN 86 RESTAURANTS!!
When you buy something from Wal Mart, you can rest assured that they have their t’s crossed and their i’s dotted. They are consistent world wide. They drive every penny out of their operation. They comply with regulations and laws. There are good reasons to buy from Wal Mart. I have one by my house and I get some things there.
Dominos runs a good business as do Papa Johns, Pizza Hut and Little Caesars. We call them “the big 4” in our business. You are certainly welcome to buy their food because you feel more confident in their factory standards, as you put it. I’m sure you’re making one of Dominos arguments (maybe literally).
We work very hard to make our products consistently and do maintain clean kitchens and exceed health code standards in all of our stores. Please rest assured that your Triple order of Topperstix is made to exacting and safe standards!
Your base argument is really an argument against any local or small business. Huge businesses are built to provide consistency. We are built to provide quality and love … consistently.
Thanks for the comment.
Scott