How This Pizza Chain Quietly Became The Go-To Spot In America

Domino's is the highest-grossing pizza chain in America, edging out other popular competitors like Pizza Hut, Papa John's, and Little Caesars. It grossed over $19 million in sales revenue in 2024 and opened hundreds of new stores, demonstrating an impressive increase from the previous year. As it turns out, its beloved pizzas, breadsticks, and lava cakes are not the only things that make customers loyal to Domino's over other pizza chains.

From humble beginnings in 1960 to becoming the fastest-growing pizza franchise in America by 1985, Domino's has a long, storied history of innovation and creativity in pizza delivery. It has continued to advance ordering technology over the course of several decades, including reimagining the pizza box and launching the first-of-its-kind order tracker. Most recently, the brand announced a genius rebrand that has contributed to its success. Here's a breakdown of how Domino's rose to the top of America's pizza delivery game.

For the first time since 2012, Domino's has rolled out a complete brand refresh that goes far beyond the logo. The company announced in October 2025 that it was undergoing a marketing overhaul that would revitalize its appearance, feel, and sound. The new look features a more modern aesthetic, with brighter colors, bolder fonts, and an emphasis on matching the brand with the delicious pizza customers know and love. The new pizza boxes will also prominently feature the Domino's logo.

The chain also brought in GRAMMY-nominated singer Shaboozey to record the new jingle in an effort to appeal to a new generation of pizza lovers. According to Domino's Executive Vice President/Global Chief Marketing Officer Kate Trumbull, the upgrades are being launched to tie into the company's Hungry for MORE strategy, which focuses on improving the menu. As Trumbull explained in an interview with PizzaMarketplace, "This brand refresh aims to match our visual identity to the deliciousness of our products. We're making every touch point of our brand as craveable as what's inside the box."

Domino's has built a reputation of being a technology company that happens to sell pizza. Its strategic emphasis on developing innovative and convenient delivery technology has greatly paid off for the chain. One of its pivotal inventions is the Pizza Tracker, which was the first of its kind. The tool was launched in 2008 and allowed customers to track exactly what stage of creation and/or delivery their meal is at in real time. See how to use Domino's Pizza Tracker to monitor orders.

In 2008, awareness of online ordering was much lower than it is now, but Domino's found that customers who ordered online (instead of in-store or over the phone) reported much higher satisfaction. The Pizza Tracker was the key to capitalizing on this insight, and due to its transparency and efficiency, the tool skyrocketed in popularity. Being able to track your order from the moment it was placed to delivery was a novel idea at the time. Today, more than 1.8 billion orders have been placed using the tracker. Not to mention, this tool inspired several other pizza restaurants to create their own tracking systems as well. 

Domino's is credited with inventing the corrugated pizza box. You might recognize a corrugated box by the ripples and waves in its cardboard lining, which lays the foundation for the sturdiness of its structure. This design makes the boxes less flimsy, ensuring pizzas are delivered undamaged. The vents in the box prevent moisture from collecting, helping maintain its structure and protecting the pizza within from becoming soggy.

Additionally, the design helps to ensure that cheese will not stick to the box's interior, even if the pie shifts during delivery. Domino's also turned to the corner-cut box, which helped employees fold hundreds of pizza boxes quickly. The reimagination of the box structure was the first in a long line of innovations that prove Domino's dedication to making not only delicious pizza but also developing the most efficient and convenient delivery process for customers.

Domino's is the self-proclaimed "home of pizza delivery," and its innovations have transformed and progressed the industry for years. In 2007, the chain launched online ordering; today, mobile ordering accounts for 85% of all of its orders. It was quickly followed by the pizza builder, which allows customers to customize their pizzas online. It also launched its mobile app and AnyWare Technology, which makes it easy to order through your car, Alexa, Apple Watch, or text messages.

Similarly, Domino's Pinpoint Delivery System allows users to drop a pin at their delivery spot without using a traditional address. In another example of its dedication to developing technology to streamline the ordering and delivery process, the company partnered with Nuro in 2019 to test autonomous delivery using Nuro R2s (self-driving mini-vehicles designed specifically for goods delivery) in Houston, Texas. It was the first pizza chain to test this kind of technology as a new, efficient way to reimagine pizza delivery.

In 1989, Domino's introduced the handmade pan pizza, but it wasn't until 2012 that the company launched an exciting, better version, made instead with fresh dough and not the frozen variety. Pan pizzas are loved for their thick, crispy, buttery crust with a soft interior, and Domino's recognized that this could only be achieved using handmade, fresh dough. The President and CEO, Patrick Doyle, even admitted that previous pan pizzas were not up to the standard the company wanted to provide its customers. Fans certainly noticed the change, and the menu item remains one of their most popular to this day, according to customer sentiment online.

In the r/Dominos subreddit, one Redditor shared a picture of their piping hot, fresh pan pizza, to which another replied, "It must've tasted great. Looks better than Pizza Huts." On the same thread, another customer described their handmade pan pizza: "Not only were my chosen sauce and toppings good ... but the crust was crisp on the outside and soft on the inside."

It's no secret that social media now plays a vital role in the fast food industry. Chili's has netizens to thank for the resurgence of the triple dipper, and for Domino's, what has come to be known as the viral pizza order. In late 2024, TikTok videos began to circulate of customers ordering and reviewing a customized pizza from Domino's. The pie in question is a homemade pan pizza with Philly cheesesteak, extra garlic parmesan sauce, extra cheese, cheddar cheese blend, and bacon.

The pizza was hugely popular among white-sauce lovers for its garlic parmesan sauce and rich cheesiness. It became so viral that Domino's capitalized on its success by sharing a discount code for the pizza online. The fast-food giant acknowledged the trend in an Instagram post: "You're making it Viral. We're making it 40% off menu-priced pizzas when ordered online." Aligning its marketing with social media trends is another example of how the chain has grown to appeal to what it calls the "next generation of pizza-lovers."

Domino's has an almost constant rotation of deals and discounts, but one of its most popular promotions is the Mix & Match. This deal allows customers to get any two or more select items for $6.99 each. The promotion has a two-item minimum, but it can be applied to a variety of offerings, including medium two-topping pizzas, wings, and oven-baked pastas. Customers can still customize their pie freely; however, additions like stuffed crust will incur an extra charge. You might want to see our review of Domino's and Pizza Hut's stuffed crust pizza.

Customers online celebrate the deal, dubbing it the king of Domino's promotions. The chain launched Mix & Match in September 2024 in response to consumer frustration over rising prices for the same or smaller portions in the fast food industry. Domino's explained on its website, "The largest pizza company in the world is taking a stand against shrinkflation by giving customers more food for the same price. Introducing MOREflation." 

According to Joe Jordan, President of U.S. and Global Services for Domino's, the company is constantly seeking new and innovative ways to provide value to the consumer. Its advertising strategies echo this sentiment. The company has released several unique advertising campaigns, including one in August 2025 that targeted value-seeking consumers. The visual campaign showed a pizza compared to a burger, cut into comically small slices to show how much more value is in a shareable pizza. The combination of creative brand marketing with value-focused messaging has helped propel Domino's into the spotlight.

The campaign was launched in collaboration with the Mix & Match Deal and exemplifies the company's efforts to be at the forefront of consumer interest. It has also participated in other strategic advertising by doing a Domino's pizza wine collab and creating a promotional campaign with Netflix's hit show "Squid Game" on the Emergency Pizza Program. The promotion offered customers a free medium pizza within 30 days of placing a qualifying order.