Domino’s Pizza saw a dip in order numbers last year, as the takeaway giant grappled with subdued consumer confidence and implemented price increases to counter escalating labour costs.
The pizza delivery chain, which boasts around 1,400 stores across the UK and Ireland, recorded 71.1 million orders for the region, a 0.9 per cent reduction compared to the previous year.
This downturn contributed to a 15 per cent fall in the group’s underlying pre-tax profit, which settled at £91.2 million.
However, system sales, representing total revenue from both franchised and company-owned outlets, rose by 1.5 per cent to £1.6 billion year-on-year. This growth was primarily fuelled by a 4 per cent increase in prices, even as the volume of sales declined by 2.5 per cent.
Domino’s attributed the franchisees’ price adjustments in 2025 largely to offsetting higher costs from employment taxes, following a rise in national insurance rates.
Despite the challenges, the company expressed optimism for 2026, reporting a positive start to the year and anticipating a boost from its recently launched chicken sub-brand.
Domino’s interim chief executive Nicola Frampton said 2025 was a “difficult year for all”, with weaker consumer confidence dragging on its order numbers.
“Franchisees have had to put prices up,” she told the Press Association.
“We’ve worked really hard not to do that but we’ve had some significant incremental cost flow… through the employment changes that came through,” she said, also citing increases to the national minimum wage which added to the group’s wage bill.
“A lot of brands have really pulled back – they’ve either put their prices up massively or they’ve pulled back on their service.
“I think we’ve got the balance right in terms of how we’ve approached it.”
Ms Frampton said the group was mindful of another minimum wage increase coming from April, and changes as part of the Employment Right Acts which will impact staff hours and working patterns.
But it is hoping to mitigate this through more efficient staff scheduling, using artificial intelligence (AI) to help forecast demand, and as food inflation eases this year.
Ms Frampton stepped into the chief executive role after previous boss Andrew Rennie left abruptly, after indicating that the UK pizza market was nearing saturation point, having told the Financial Times there is no “massive growth” left in this category.
In September, Domino’s launched the Chick ‘N’ Dip sub-brand to tap into rapidly growing demand for chicken in the UK, which has now been rolled out nationwide.
Ms Frampton said that, since stepping up to the top job on an interim basis, the “only thing that has fundamentally and significantly changed is that we’re not looking for a second brand”, referring to Mr Rennie’s previous suggestions that it was looking to acquire a second food brand to boost its expansion.
But Ms Frampton said that the idea had been “parked”, as the Chick ‘N’ Dip trial “made us realise that we didn’t need to go and buy a hundred million pound brand in order to be successfully accessing the growing chicken market”.
Meanwhile, Domino’s opened 31 new stores over 2025 and it is aiming for a similar amount of openings in 2026, which the boss said reflects “confidence” in the business and its future.
Ms Frampton also said Domino’s does “care” about the impact of more health-conscious consumers and that it was broadening its product range to cater to people who want “lighter portions” or “lower calorie options”.
Domino’s shares were up by about 5 per cent on Tuesday.
