Olympics may have a Domino’s effect

Domino’s Pizza has warned that customers living near the Olympics venue in East London could experience delays in deliveries during the Games, as the pizza delivery firm posted a tasty jump in half-year profits.

Chief executive Lance Batchelor said: “You can see that around the Olympics site there could be complexities with deliveries.”

He said that Domino’s, which boasts an average delivery time of 23.5 minutes, had been preparing for the London 2012 games for months, issuing franchisees with guidance and digital maps to deal with Olympic road changes, and would keep customers in East London informed by phone or on its website.

Batchelor said that while the true impact of the Games on Domino’s was unclear, he expects it to be positive. “There is no other brand that is geared up for watching TV in the way we are. We will be ready nationally with the right levels of stock and logistics,” he added.

Domino’s posted a 15.2% rise in pre-tax profits to £23.3 million for the 26 weeks to June 24, on sales up by 11% to £286.9 million.

Its online sales rocketed by 43.4% to £121.2 million and, of these, orders placed on a mobile device accounted for 18%. Batchelor expects mobile revenues to account for about half of online sales in three years’ time at Domino’s, which has 748 stores in the UK, Republic of Ireland and Germany.