Domino’s Sidebar: The Science (and Art) of Pizza-Making
When Domino’s set out to remake its core product, it spent millions of dollars and nearly two years to come up with a new combination of dough, sauce, cheese and crust.
Bridget Barrett
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1. Dough Experimentation
Domino’s tested the dough and crust separately. Although chefs experimented with variables such as the amount of water and yeast, there were few discernible improvements, so the dough was left unchanged.
2. Sauce Development
Chefs tried dozens of different combinations, varying both the ingredients (such as sugar, garlic, red pepper or type of tomato) and the amount of each.
3. Cheese Research
Adding a bit of provolone made the cheese taste better, says CMO Russell Weiner. And when the cheese was shredded rather than cubed, consumers liked it more. “It wasn’t just how it tasted; it was how it looked,” Weiner says. “Sometimes the cubed cheese didn’t melt all the way. The shredded was nicer looking.”
4. Crust Trials
Chefs experimented with a variety of treatments, eventually settling on brushing the crust with butter and sprinkling on herbs. But this proved labor-intensive when tested in stores, so the process was condensed into one step, with herbs being added to the butter solution ahead of time.
5. Putting Combos Together
The top three or four sauces, cheeses and crust treatments were tried in different combinations. “We didn’t want to put a great cheese on a great sauce and have them taste terrible together,” says Weiner.
6. Heavy-User Research
A handful of combos were tested on frequent Domino’s customers. Because they were already fans of the old pizza, the company says, it didn’t want to alienate them with the new one. Also given a taste: children. “If kids don’t like the pizza,” Weiner says, “parents won’t order it.”
