Domino's Pizza coy on expansion plans for Ireland

Domino's has yet to set out a growth plan for its Irish business.

Pizza delivery company Domino’s is working on a new long-term growth strategy that will include its operations in Ireland.

However, no further details are available as yet and it remains to be seen if the company’s new management team — led by CEO Dominic Paul, who took over the running of the business at the end of March — will still target the opening of a further 25 outlets across the island of Ireland in the coming years, as was a stated aim of the preceding management team.

The growth plan will cover the UK and Ireland, now its core geographic regions following last year’s decision to quit its wider European business which has covered Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland.

However, progress is only being seen currently in the UK where Domino's has just announced plans to create 5,000 jobs — mainly via pizza chefs and delivery drivers — and more than 1,000 work placements for young people as part of the British government's plan to boost employment in its Covid-19 ravaged economy.

The 5,000 new roles are in addition to the 6,000 jobs Domino's has created — mainly in the UK — since the start of the Covid-19 crisis.

"Together, these over 6,000 new roles will help Domino's continue to safely serve our local communities as we head towards the busy festive period," said Mr Paul.

Domino’s has 54 outlets in Ireland and there are currently no plans for further jobs here. 

The company saw a near 4% drop in its Irish sales in the first half of the year, due to the negative impact of Covid-19 on consumer spending and Ireland’s earlier move into lockdown.

“We saw weaker performance in Ireland, against a strong comparative. Ireland entered lockdown earlier than the UK and we saw a more pronounced impact on consumer spending,” the company said regarding Ireland at the time of its interim results last month.

“Ireland was also disproportionately impacted by stopping cash payments and, outside of Dublin, by the switch-off of collection. When lockdown restrictions eased, we quickly reintroduced collection, including car-side collection, and we have seen an improvement in trading as a result,” it said.

As much as 95% of Domino’s sales are generated in its UK operations, which performed strongly in the second quarter of the year.

“Our business in Ireland is a much smaller part of the group, accounting for 5% of system sales, and the relatively small size of our Irish business means that sales are inherently more volatile,” the company said last month.

At a time when companies — including high-street retailers, hotels, and airlines — have laid off tens of thousands of workers to cut costs, some sectors such as UK supermarkets have had to take on additional staff to deal with more demand for deliveries and groceries at home.

— Additional reporting Reuters