By Mike Cherney
SYDNEY--Domino's Pizza Enterprises Executive Chair Jack Cowin has a simple strategy to revive sluggish sales: more cheese.
At first glance, asking customers if they want extra cheese on their pizza might not seem like a meaningful sales lever. But the chain sells 220 million pizzas a year, so even a small uptick in add-ons could pile up, Cowin told The Wall Street Journal in an interview.
Analysts have criticized the Australia-listed company, which runs the Domino's brand in Australia, New Zealand and parts of Europe and Asia, for lacking detail on its turnaround plan. Speaking Wednesday after the company reported annual results, Cowin outlined how he aims to bake in more revenue.
The focus, he said, is to move away from discounting, simplify the menu and lean into an "everyday value proposition" so customers know what they're getting--and hopefully, buy more.
"If you go online, there's a mountain of different products," Cowin said. "We want to simplify the offer, which means the business becomes more efficient, less complicated."
Offering extra cheese at checkout is one way to boost sales without relying on discounts, he said.
Alongside that shift, Cowin said Domino's has room to cut general and administrative costs, with savings funneled back into advertising and promotion to drive sales. The company has also been closing underperforming stores and says it won't open new stores unless they can be sustainably profitable.
One challenge has been the rise of delivery "aggregators," app-based services that let nearly every restaurant compete with Domino's on home delivery. Given that industry-wide shift, Cowin said maintaining sales is significant and that some peers have struggled more.
Investors remain unconvinced. Domino's shares fell as much as 20% Wednesday after the company posted results for the fiscal year ended in June 2025.
Underlying earnings slipped 4.6% to 198.1 million Australian dollars, equivalent to US$128.5 million, network sales edged down 0.9% to A$4.15 billion and same-store sales fell 0.2%. In the first seven weeks of fiscal 2026, same-store sales were down 0.9%.
Cowin said he understands shareholders' disappointment that sales haven't grown. Still, "There's nothing wrong with the base business that can't be improved," he said.
Management turnover has been another headwind. Longtime CEO Don Meij departed last year. His replacement, Mark van Dyck, said in July he would leave, prompting Cowin--who founded Hungry Jack's, the Burger King franchise in Australia--to step in as executive chair.
He said he plans to stay in the role until the strategy reset is complete but didn't give a timeline.
"We don't need a new set of eyes, or a new person coming in, in the middle of all this work which is being done," he said.
Cowin added that there are no plans to sell more-challenged businesses in countries such as Japan and France. "Both Japan and France are undeveloped opportunities that can create a lot of money for the shareholders and business," he said.
The Domino's brand is owned by the U.S.-listed company of the same name, but Domino's Pizza Enterprises says it is the largest Domino's franchisee outside the U.S., with a network of about 3,500 stores, including both corporate-owned and franchisee stores.
Write to Mike Cherney at mike.cherney@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 27, 2025 00:50 ET (04:50 GMT)
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