Back in the 90s, Domino’s Pizza Sucked. By Admitting It Publicly, They Saved the Company

No one like showing their weak side, but there is something to be said in business for the sort of transparency that makes customers trust you again.

By the late 2000s, Domino’s Pizza faced a brutal truth:

Customers said its pizza tasted, well, “like cardboard.”

Cardboard!

Most companies would have buried that kind of feedback. Domino’s went bold and tried a radically different strategy. Like George Costanza, it did the opposite.

Domino’s leaned into their big problem.

Doing the Opposite

Not only did the pizza behemoth not avoid the horrible feedback it was getting, it decided to amplify the complaints.

Domino’s went of the offensive (defensive?), whatever, it chose to admit the problem publicly.

On TV no less.

In ads and commercials, they aired a very public mea culpa. And then they said they were going to start over, from scratch, and do it better this time.

The Mea Culpa

So that is exactly what they did. And within three years, guess what?

It worked.

Sales doubled!

Why?

Yes, the new pizzas and products were better, but it was something deeper. Domino’s realized their real problem was not just taste, it was an issue of trust.

By creating crappy pizza, the brand stopped living up to its promise. Losing that sort of trust is what puts businesses - small and large alike - out of business.

By going public, loudly and honestly, Domino’s hit the root issue on the head. They promised to solve it, and did, and in doing so, won customers back.

This sort of radical solution only happens if you are willing to face uncomfortable data head-on, look it in the eye, and squeeze the essential problem from it.

🛠️ Free Tool of the Week

SurveyMonkey
We’ve arranged a free trial of our favorite survey tool, SurveyMonkey. So go ahead, ask your customers the hard questions and get the insights you need to fix what is broken and build trust.

The Takeaway

The thing you are most afraid of might be the thing that saves you. Customers will forgive failure faster than they will forgive denial.

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Steal This Strategy!

📖 Book - Radical Candor by Kim Scott
A sharp, practical guide to building trust through honesty.

🎥 Video - Domino’s “Pizza Turnaround” Commercial
The actual ad where Domino’s admits its pizza sucked.

🌐 Website - Domino’s Investor Relations
See how their radical transparency turned into one of the greatest stock runs of the last 20 years.

🛠️ Tool - SurveyMonkey

About Steve

Steve Strauss is the best-selling author of The Small Business Bible (and 17 other books), Inc.’s small business columnist, a lawyer (non-practicing), and an entrepreneur. He sold his last venture, TheSelfEmployed.com to Mark Cuban & Zen Business. Need a ghostwriter or a newsletter for your business? Contact Steve!