THE VOICEof Domino’s Franchisees FEATURES: Mary Lynne Carraway Tracy Gray Interview & Tribute Patrick Doyle Working for Franchisees Advocacy,DFA Membership Benefits and Education to Increase Franchisee Profitability Issue 1 2018 CONTENTS FEATURES 5 Ken’s Korner Ken Peebles 18 Chairman’s Update 8 Patrick Doyle James Gerety “Ultimately, the success of our Franchisees is the 28 It’s Time For A Little Employee Spring Cleaning success of the business, it’s really quite simple.” J. Hagood Tighe, Fisher and Phillips LLP 40 Domino’s Safety, Security and Loss Prevention Services Mary Lynne Carraway Van Carney, National Director of Safety, Security 22 and Loss Prevention “I have really learned so much already even though I am the newest Board Member. I feel 44 The Training Room more connected to the bigger picture and can only Dominic Benvenuti believe that it will make me a better leader.” 48 Excellence in 2018 Mike McDermott Tracy Gray 52 Common Misconceptions About Insurance 32 Jason Upton “We were able to open our second Wilson store by the end of the year. It seemed like it took 54 #METOO: Are You Ready For The Paradigm Shift? forever. We had to push so hard at the end of the Brook J. Carrol year to get it open.” 58 Membership Letter Chris Rowe Departments Updates Member Services Vendor Partner Middleby Marshall 26 59 Membership Form Forum Meetings 55 60 DFA Board Member Directory Partners Foundation 56 62 Vendor Partner Directory The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent Domino’s Franchisees, Domino’s Pizza Inc, and/or any of its agents. The Voice / dominosdfa.com The Voice The Voice is printed quarterly and distributed to the entire Domino’s Franchisee Community. 4 DFA CEO UPDATE Ken’s Korner FEATURES 5 Ken’s Korner Ken Peebles “It is harder to stay on top, than it is to get there” 18 Chairman’s Update The Domino’s Franchisee Community charged into started with a goal, prepared and trained, worked hard, James Gerety 2018 with the same momentum as 2017. The Brand is steadily executed and overcame obstacles along the way strong. Not only are we #1 in the USA, but after our to reach their goal. competitors shared their latest earnings reports, we 28 It’s Time For A Little Employee Spring Cleaning are now considered the #1 Pizza Brand in the world. The old adage of “It is harder to stay on top, than it is to J. Hagood Tighe, Fisher and Phillips LLP Back in 2008 & 2009, our Brand was experiencing some get there” rings loudly in my ears each time I hear about of its darkest days. Knowing all of the dedication and Domino’s incredible turnaround story. While I clearly 40 Domino’s Safety, Security and Loss Prevention Services hard work Franchisees have put forth to reach this #1 understand and have seen real life examples of this well- Van Carney, National Director of Safety, Security status brings an almost overwhelming sense of pride known adage, it was not until recently that I started to consider the reasons why this adage rings so true. To and Loss Prevention and satisfaction. On some days, the darkest days seem just like yesterday for many Franchisees who remember me, it boils down to starting with needing or wanting teetering on the brink of closure. Other days, it seems so to achieve a goal, preparing a game plan, knowing it is 44 The Training Room going to be hard work, being motivated to overcome Dominic Benvenuti long ago since our Brand started on its turnaround vision and Franchisees began the hard-fought journey of taking obstacles, fear of failure and a strong desire to cross the sales and market share from our competitors. finish line. These are great assets when driving someone 48 Excellence in 2018 towards achievement, but they tend to disappear after a Mike McDermott They say every journey starts with a first step and this long hard-fought battle is won. It is only human nature to phenomenal turnaround is no exception. At the end want to stop and catch your breath after working so hard 52 Common Misconceptions About Insurance of 2009, just as we were about to head into 2010 to to reach a goal. This could be considered as complacency celebrate our 50th year in the Pizza business, the Brand Jason Upton to some and could allow our competition time to regroup announced the New & Inspired Pizza. This first step and get motivated to start pushing hard to regain lost eventually morphed into our Road to #1 campaign which ground while we catch our breath. 54 #METOO: Are You Ready For The Paradigm Shift? has turned into wanting to dominate the Pizza industry Brook J. Carrol just as Pizza Hut did for so many years. Knowing our Brand has scaled the mountain and now sits atop celebrating our journey, we need to quickly catch 58 Membership Letter For the system to embrace the radical new direction of our breath and determine our next goal to ensure we not our Brand and to expect our teams to flawlessly execute only protect our hard work, but we focus on widening Chris Rowe the rollout of our new pizza was hard to accept. This the gap between us and our competitors who are trying made the first step of our journey very difficult. There to start their own turn around journey. Let’s face it, was no turning back and teams had to work hard every the recent major announcements from our two biggest day to ensure our Product, Service and Image were at 5 pizza competitors show us they have decided to try and star levels. Slowly but surely, we started to see progress shake things up in order to recapture sales and regain and started seeing positive customer feedback that our market share. Papa John’s founder stepped down and efforts were paying off. What our competitors thought was replaced with a new CEO. Yum Brands made a recent was a Hail Mary gimmick, started gaining traction, and investment of $200 million into Grubhub, which is one our system started gaining momentum. Quarter after of the biggest food ordering/delivery companies in the quarter, our Brand’s numbers started to show the uphill USA. While the view from the mountain looks great, the turnaround process had achieved a full 180 degrees. The Domino’s Brand and our Franchisees have to remember initial steep incline was beginning to level out. where we were just eight short years ago and how our I think everyone has seen inspirational photographs of competitors viewed our New and Inspired campaign as a people standing on top of a mountain with their arms Hail Mary gimmick. raised in the air and huge smiles on their faces celebrating The DFA Board of Directors (BODs), made up of their accomplishment. These photos convey a clear Franchisees elected by their fellow Franchisees, recently feeling of achievement of someone reaching a goal. This met to discuss our 2018 priorities. Their goal is to image also creates an understanding of someone who support Franchisees in the quest to stay on top as the #1 pizza company in the world while also widening the gap community. After listening to his explanation of why the between us and our competitors who are trying to take timing was perfect for a leadership change, I quickly went back what we have achieved over the last eight years. from being disappointed to being supportive of Ritch During the meeting, the BODs spent a short time and Russell taking over and leading the Brand in our new catching their breath by appreciating what the DFA has quest to stay on top of the pizza industry. accomplished in recent years and more specifically in I have gotten to know Patrick pretty well over my 2017. Last year, the DFA set records in Membership, almost 30 years of involvement with Domino’s. On financial reserves for Franchisees and with Vendor the professional side of our relationship, I have come partnership programs. Also in 2017, the DFA held a very to respect him for his vision, integrity, work ethic and successful National Meeting and rolled out our widely ability to rally others to support a common goal. Patrick popular communication tool, Jostle. I can assure you that was always willing to listen to the DFA’s explanation of the DFA BODs spent very little time celebrating our great Franchisee issues and try to find ways to incorporate our results and dedicated most of the meeting to making sure suggestions into his overall vision for the Brand. This is 2018 and beyond are even better for Franchisees. not to say we always agreed on what we thought the best The DFA Board set the following priorities for the DFA in path was, but I always felt he considered our perspective 2018. before making decisions impacting Franchisees. • Hosting a Franchisee summit meeting focusing on On the personal side, I consider him a role model for Franchisee profitability how to be approachable and make others feel at ease, how to treat people, how to listen and how to try to find • Continual improvement of the DFA’s Jostle amicable solutions in order to bring people together. But, communication tool the best thing I will remember is his laugh. It came across • Continual Legal support on system wide issues facing as being so real whether he was on stage, in a group or in Franchisees a one or one conversation… and I think it came across as genuine, because it was.