Domino's CEO throws shade at Walgreens and says the pizza chain has a better rewards program

AP Photo/Julie Jacobson

Domino's Pizza CEO Patrick Doyle laughs during an interview in New York.

• Domino's Pizza CEO Patrick Doyle pointed out a key difference between the chain's "pizza profiles" and Walgreens' loyalty program.
• He says the chain doesn't need extra info from customers because it can get that data from their orders, and hates how much info other stores ask customers to give.

Big data is transforming every industry, and pizza is no exception.

Domino's "pizza profiles" loyalty program, which the chain launched in 2013, lets you earn free food after ordering a set amount of pizza from within the company's app. But the company wants to draw a key distinction between its loyalty rewards program and those of competitors - Domino's didn't want to ask you for mountains of data.

"Every single time I go to Walgreens, the nice lady at the cash register asks if I'm a member and I say no. And she tells me you know you're going to pay more and I say yes but I'm not going to spend 20 minutes filling out your forms," CEO Patrick Doyle told Bernstein analyst Sara Senatore at an event last week.

"We already had the data. It was a big advantage and we are not going to complicate our loyalty program until we know that everybody understands our loyalty program."

So far, the loyalty program, alongside renovated stores, seems to be paying off for the Michigan-based pizza chain. Domino's could overtake Pizza Hut as the largest national pizza chain by sales numbers this year, Nomura-Instinet analyst Mark Kalinowski said this summer. Domino's rising sales numbers - up 8.4% during its most recent earnings report in October - are backing up his thesis.

Doyle also pointed to Starbucks' loyalty program, known as My Starbucks Rewards, as something Domino's is looking to model.

"I think Starbucks is best in class in the restaurant industry in on-premise," he said. "And what they are doing with technology there from a payment standpoint, from what they are doing to speed up the lines, all the rest of it - they do a terrific job there."

Shares of Domino's are up 12.43% so far this year. Wall Street consensus is that the stock will continue to climb to $216, or 21% above Friday morning's price of $178.10.

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