Pizza Hut. Papa John’s. Domino’s. While all of them have experimented to some degree or another in the last year or two with releasing new products or offers (Domino’s and Pizza Hut much more so than Papa John’s) – the core business remains traditional pizza. That’s why reports that Domino’s has totally revamped its pizza formula, to include a new crust, new sauce and new blend of cheeses is huge news, akin to McDonald’s reformulating the Big Mac or Burger King revamping the Whopper.

Domino's Pepperoni
(New Domino’s Pizza in full color)

Consumerist is reporting on the recipe change as well, with info from Domino’s explaining:

“2010 will be our 50th year in the business, and we are kicking it off with the most aggressive promotion in the history of our company,” said Domino’s Chairman and CEO David A. Brandon. “This is the biggest product introduction we’ve done since…well, pizza.”

The primary changes to the pizza are the crust, sauce and cheese:

  • Crust – A garlic seasoned crust with parsley baked to a golden brown.
  • Sauce – Sweeter, bolder tomato sauce with a medley of herbs and a red pepper kick.
  • Cheese – Shredded cheese made with 100% real mozzarella and flavored with just a hint of provolone.

The decision to change the basic recipe for Domino’s pizza is a bold one for sure. As USA Today notes:

Analysts were hard-pressed to name a major chain that has tried such a change to its core product. “I don’t know of any (restaurant) company that has attempted this,” says consultant Howard Gordon.

The new pizza recipe is based off of several years of testing, and seems to be a high risk/high reward situation. While some loyalists may not go for the new taste, the early buzz I’ve seen on Twitter is very positive – people are digging the new sauce, and seem to think the new crust is one of the better crusts they’ve had.  There is strong potential here for Domino’s to re-introduce its pizza to the public at large, and potentially win over some new customers who may not have liked the taste of the old pizza. More interestingly, the pizza recipe change represents the strategic move of listening too, and responding to consumer complaints, demands and preferences. You aren’t crazy about Domino’s pizza? Well ok then, we’ll do some research and make it better for you.

The new pizza recipe has already popped up in most stores this week, and will be in all of them by the end of the month.  I haven’t tried the new pizza yet, but hope too in the next few days.  Any So Good readers tried the new Domino’s pizza recipe? If so, or when you do, please let us know what you think!

Full Disclosure: Domino’s is a client of mine and my employer, and I provide them with social media consulting and strategic advice.

78 Responses

  2. Henry

    Too spicy or herby for me. Maybe amount of change cut in half. Classic dominos was alright.

    Reply
  4. Brian

    A sweeter sauce? I haven’t had Domino’s in awhile, but the last time I did I remember thinking their sauce was already too sweet.

    Reply
  6. Alex

    My parents and I agree that the new sauce is WAY too spicy.We think that the old recipe was WAY better.GO BACK TO THE OLD RECIPE!!!!!!!

    Reply
  9. Diane

    Had the new pizza tonight. It was horrible. Very greasy and nasty taste!! Felt sick to my stomach after eating it. Was like they poured seasoned oil all over the pizza after it came out of the oven. I have loved Domino’s pizza since I worked there over 20 years ago. Not anymore!! We’ll drive to the next town to get Papa John’s for now on!!!!!!!

    Reply
  10. Arthur Bloberger

    Look, you can quibble about the subtleties of the crust and sauce if you want, but the problem with Domino’s has always really been the cheese. They’ve always said it was “100” real, but God only knows what kind. It never even really melted properly before – you know how hot pizza cheese should be kind of stringy when you grab a slice? Their cheese has always been more like soft globules. And now they’re saying it’s “made with” 100% mozzarella with a hint of provolone. Well, what ELSE is it made with? I want 100% MOZZARELLA and PROVOLONE, not “made with.” I doubt I’ll give these deceivers a second chance, because I wonder how long it would take to get our money back if we actually asked for it?

    Reply
  11. Courtney

    I always thought Pizza Hut’s pizza sauce was too sweet, so I always ordered from Dominos. I wonder if they found out PH’s recipe and copied it, because the new sauce tasted just as sweet. In any case, there goes my favorite pizza.

    Reply
  12. Chris

    Two years of focus groups and this is what they came up with. Same pizza covered with some seasoning and the crust brushed with garlic butter. Honestly there are some better quality frozen pizzas.

    Reply
  13. Zaxe Zoro!

    My real name is Robert.
    umm so i can’t believe that these comments are like soooo negative. 4 hrs after i saw that youtube ad i knew i just had to get it. cauz for me the old pizza was pretty good, but it got boring after a while and the crust wasn’t much fun eating.
    so i got my pizza, a Medium Extra Pepperoni Pie and I gotta say that the crust was good

    Reply
  15. Albert

    I love thier new pizza it was excellent. Also, the crust is sweet and very good. That is one of the best crust on the market. I am digging the new pizza.

    Reply
  16. Anon-e-mouse

    The new sauce is waaaay to spicy for me and my family. We ended up throwing out half of the pizza.

    Reply
  17. ken colorado

    I got two of dominos pizzas today and was not at all impreesed. The pizza was greasy and did not have much in the way of flavor. The crust was soggy (under the toppings). was promised the pizza in 25 to thirty minutes and it almost an hour. The pizzza was almost cold. I did get my money back. Can’t say if the pizza would be any good if it was delivered hot and fresh. If I worked for Dominos I would quit. I could not work for a company that sold crap like this.

    Reply
  18. Laura

    It’s still chain-quality, but better than the old recipe. The cheese is still gobbly but has a little more flavor. The sauce has kick, but might be too much for a lot of people. The crust ends taste like garlic bread.

    Reply
  19. Terri

    I was really excited to try the new recipe pizza at Domino’s and then I bit into it. Ick! We actually gave away our second pizza. Neither my son nor I liked any of it. The sauce was not sweet at all and actually too spicy! The crust was blah! Sad and disappointing!

    Reply
  20. tom

    i no doubt wasin th e minority not knowing about the change before i last ordered one, the new sauce blows really. guess i will be getting more pizza from PH or local places now.

    Reply
  21. Pizzaguy

    My family and I tried it last week and it the spices are overpowering. Too garlicy and way too many herbs. Go to a NY pizzeria and you won’t find garlic and herbs brushed all over the crust. Why can’t you fast food pizza places get it right???? Dough, sauce, cheese (real cheese)… Doesn’t sound too difficult.

    Reply
  23. Kevin Kau

    I am not sure why people don’t like it the old pizza used to taste like cardboard & this new pizza is awesome we love the crust..

    Reply
  24. Fuck This Pizza.

    No Joke. This new pizza is pathetic. The sause was decent at best. But the crust? It’s like a fatass was in charge of designing the new texture and taste. I feel SICK to my stomach after eating 2 slices. It is absolutly disgusting. Take a look at it. It is so god damn greasy, and it seems as if it makes the whole pizza is grasier as well. and I will be eating Papa John’s till they change it back.

    Reply
  25. ph dom papa

    i actually liked it pretty much. if you get extra cheese, you will not notice the sweet sauce. crust is more fun to eat. its like eating garlic breac. B+ for this.

    Reply
  26. Grimmbear

    I loved the new Pizza. Granted I can’t eat the red sauce so I got a white Pizza but I really enjoyed it and I can’t remember EVER saying that about Domino’s before.

    Reply
  27. Weißer Tee

    That looks nice. I love Domino’s pizzas. Moreover, Domino’s has opened a new outlet nearby my abode. So was wondering to visit it for new year’s new pizza.

    Reply
  28. madison

    VERY GOOD!! The sauce is not “too sweet” as others bemoan. The herbs and light spice balance any sugar in the sauce. The crust is a bit greasier than the original, but no where near as greasy as Pizza Hut. Additionally, the crust is seasoned well, so you actually want to eat the entire crust and not leave the ends. You really can taste the overall quality in the ingedients. Bravo Domino’s. I am a fan again. ALL THE NAYSAYERS ARE HYPER SENSITIVE CURMUDGEONS.

    Reply
  29. Eick

    For anyone who isn’t crazy about the new sauce or garlic crust I just wanted to give you a heads up on options available:

    sauce – if the new sauce has a little too much kick for you, trying ordering with “hearty marinara” its more similar to the old sauce.

    crust – if you are a vampire or have a hot date and don’t want garlic on the crust, you can call the store and request a pizza without the new garlic seasoning.

    Reply
  30. sunny

    Way too spicy…..very hot and I actually like hot stuff….this new sauce sucks……
    What is Dominoes doing……I predict this will go the way of “New Coke”

    Reply
  31. Spencer

    I just finished trying to eat the new pizza. It tasted like italian sausage which I hate. Won’t eat there again until they realize they screwed up and change back to the original.

    Reply
  32. 98Grand

    Too spicy… The new recipe is a train wreck. No more Domino’s for me. Too bad. I had been customer for 25 years.

    Reply
  34. baby spice

    I don’t see how the sauce was “too spicy” at all.

    I liked the new sauce and cheese, but the garlic crust wasn’t that great… It was good on the first slice, then it just got kind of annoying after a while.

    I love the new pizza, but next time I’ll definitely be ordering it without the garlic crust..

    Reply
  35. sevenalive

    I haven’t ordered pizza from a chain in 3 years. Ask your friends about their favorite local pizza place. I found 3 great local places that know how to make a pizza and i found my perfect place and they also have killer wings.

    I won’t bother trying the new dominoes, they suck just like the old dominoes. All of the pizza places went downhill 12 years ago.

    Reply
  36. Mah Dixie Wrecked

    I loved Dominoe’s pizza for the last 4 years, so I ordered from them around the 19th of December. I was absolutley startled when I opened the box. It was all brown and smelled quite different than the normal pizza. I took a slice and ate it, and the best thing to say was thank goodness I only ordered a medium. I got to the crust it was waaay to overpowering. If I wanted fuckin garlic smeared on my crust, I would’ve just ordered garlic bread.

    Reply
  37. PoopStewart

    It was okay pizza. Sauce was pretty good, it seemed pretty neutral with a teency bit of a spicy kick.

    Only problem is the dillholes did not put the garlic on the crust so it was dry..

    Reply
  38. becbud

    New crust…not a fan. Everything else was ok, and really typical dominos. We order from there because it’s cheap, and with 5 kids we need cheap pizza. And for those that say try the local joints…we do have 2 decent ones in our small town, but the others, are like cardboard crusts with ketchup for sauce and they actually use american cheese! What’s up with that, it’s like cafeteria food! (And Nasty at that!)

    Reply
  39. Adrian

    I actually didn’t mind Dominos before this change. The new pizza is bloated, smothered with garlic and parmesan, and loaded with grease. I still detected the same flavor from the old pizza but did think the sauce was a bit spicier. Overall, it was nothing spectacular and I will avoid it because of how messy it is to eat.

    Reply
  40. chompchomp

    Not really a fan of the new Dominos pizza. The old recipe wasn’t fantastic but it wasn’t really all that bad.

    The taste seems like they’re trying to mask sub-par ingredients (likely the same base sauce and crust recipes as before) with spices and gimmicks. And that’s just it.. it didn’t seem like an improvement. Even if I thought it tasted better (which I didn’t) it just seems like the “new recipe” is a gimmick.

    Use good quality ingredients, keep it simple and don’t try to jazz it up by turning your pizza into garlic bread. If they wanted to revamp their recipe, they’d use better quality ingredients. But I guess that just isn’t profitable enough..

    Reply
  42. eric

    JUST GOT THE NEW PIZZA TONIGHT, I MADE SURE IT WAS THE NEW PIZZA AND BEHOLD NOTHING WAS DIFFERENT, NO GARLIC BUTTER ON CRUST NO DIFFERENT TASTE AT ALL, CALLED THEM ON THE PHONE AND THEY JUST PLAYED DUMB.
    I BELIEVE THEY ARE TRYING TO GET RID OF ALL THERE OLD CRAP AND MIX IT WITH THE NEW CRAP. SO BEWARE.

    Reply
  43. Pizza King

    The old pizza tasted like ketchup, cardboard with some cheese thrown on top, this pizza is 100 times better.

    Reply
  44. Steph

    WOW I used to enjoy the old pizza and I tried the new pizza late last night AWFUL! there were soooo many different spices on the damn thing I couldn’t enjoy it not to mention when I woke up this morning I started throwing up soo much. all of the freaking spices they used on the pizza and the crust had soooooon much garlic on it I only ate 1 piece and brought the rest back …. I Still feel sick … They almost didn’t give my money back but I made sure they did I can promise you 1 thing … I’m NEVER eating Dominos crap AGAIN! Bring the old pizza back and then we can talk.

    Reply
  45. GGsquared

    New recipe is awful. Way too spicy! The old recipe wasn’t great, but it was better than this mess!

    Reply
  46. byrdseyevue

    Not bad at all. I liked the spice. The only problem is that the new sauce is way too sweet. If that weren’t the case I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’d order from Dominos. You can even do it on-line and watch a time line from prep through delivery. I live in a bit of a hard to find place and they beat their ealiest estimate by 10 minutes. I haven’t tried the Marinara sauce- any thoughts?

    Reply
  47. Molly

    Hate the new pizza. I really liked the old one– i liked the sweet sauce. Now the sauce is too spicy (not too hot for me, but it doesn’t fit for what i want in a pizza sauce). the cheese was okay– but it didn’t really seem to melt, it just congealed. I didn’t even make it to the crust because everything seemed to too greasy, so I just gave up. Probably won’t return the pizzas, but won’t be ordering again 🙁

    Reply
  48. JimmyG

    I thought it was great! Tasted wonderful and way better than before! However, after eating it I had diarhea and stomach cramps and some fierce gas for the rest of the day and the next. So, I don’t think I will ever eat Domino’s again. Even if they change back. I never liked the old pizza. The new pizza tasted great it just played hell with my insides! :-X

    Reply
  49. james

    dominos has ruined their pizza! Gave it a 2nd try last night..horrible! ordered it this time without the garlic on crust. just as bad as first experience. cheese has no flavor and doesn’t melt right. stomach cramps all night. Sad..have been a dominos customer for 25 years. It is really stupid to change a winning game plan.

    Reply
  50. Jason

    The sauce is way too spicy… The old sauce was much better. For 50 years the old recipe kept them in business. I think this was a bad move!

    Reply

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