Dodo Partners Meetup: 12 key unveilings
13 August 2020
Maxim Kotin
Chief storyteller
Every summer, we hold the Dodo Partners and Managers Meetup — the most important event of the year for our vast community of entrepreneurs united by the Dodo brand. This year, the gathering had to happen online. Still, more than 1,500 franchisees, investors, and team members watched it live on our YouTube channel. As always, the managing company reported on progress — and laid out its plans. Here are the meetup’s 12 key unveilings.
New name: Dodo Brands
Fyodor Ovchinnikov, the founder, presented the new name of our company: Dodo Brands. Having started as a pizza company, we’re effectively transforming Dodo into a franchise group aiming to grow a number of digitally-driven foodservice concepts.
New brands: DrinkIt and Doner42
Dodo Brands is launching two new ventures this year. DrinkIt, a digital-first coffee shop, aims to offer high-quality yet affordable coffee by leveraging mobile ordering. Doner 42, a doner kebab outlet, will provide shawarma aficionados with a 100% safe and tasty option (there will also be an app for ordering). Over the coming year, we’ll be opening a few test sites before starting to scale these two brands in our home market and globally.
3. $13m invested in our IT platform
Dodo IS, our proprietary IT solution, helps our partners manage their businesses and provides our customers with convenient digital tools for online and mobile ordering. The development of Dodo IS started with the launch of Dodo Pizza’s first unit in 2011. Since then, we’ve invested $13m in its development.
4. Dodo in Russia: leadership solidified
We used to say that Dodo Pizza had more pizza shops in Russia than two of our closest competitors combined. Now in our home market, Dodo has more units than the total of all three of our main competitors.
5. Home market growth target: x2 in 3 years
Despite the crisis, Dodo Pizza aims to expand and seize the opportunities presented by the pandemic. Delivery is one of the markets that has maintained decent growth potential even amid the pandemic. The Dodo Pizza team aims to double the size of our business in Russia within the next 3 years.
6. Dodo Pizza Express: revamped concept for food courts
This year, we’ll be improving our Dodo Pizza Express sub-format designed for trade malls and food courts. The latest version was launched this summer in downtown Moscow (less than 1 km from Red Square) with a wider offering of grab-and-go pizzas and snacks. There are around 300 malls in Russia where such units can be placed.
7. Pizza bars: same offering, smaller space
This year, we’ll also be introducing a new pizza shop format in our home market — a so-called “pizza bar.” It will be a full-scale pizza delivery/dine-in operating from a much smaller space (up to 80 sq.m.). Less space = reduced rent = lowered CAPEX = more available locations = faster growth.
8. Turbo menu: super fast delivery
Dodo Pizza Russia aims to deliver in 30 minutes but only 60-minute deliveries are guaranteed. If we fail to meet this 60-minute deadline, we offer the customer a free pizza. With our turbo menu — a limited offering of pizzas, sides, and drinks — we’ll be able to guarantee super fast deliveries in under 30 minutes.
9. In-app reviews instead of mystery shoppers
For many years, mystery shoppers’ reviews were at the core of the Quality Rating that helped us control and maintain high standards across hundreds of units. This role will soon be handed over to customer reviews gathered via our mobile app. We’re taking our quality assurance system to a new level. Mystery shoppers assessed each unit twice a week. Customers now leave dozens of reviews for one store every day.
10. Ten minutes to address any customer complaint
Many large consumer corporations, like banks or insurance companies, set up online chats in their apps. This way, customers can communicate with the brand and solve their problems conveniently. Dodo Pizza is going to be among the first foodservice brands to introduce the same feature in its app. Our target is to resolve every customer problem within a maximum time frame of 10 minutes.
11. New markets in 2020: Germany, Poland, and Vietnam
Dodo Pizza is continuing its international expansion. This year alone, the brand is launching in three new markets in partnerships with our franchisees: Germany, Poland, and Vietnam. And our first company-owned UK unit will open in Leamington Spa this fall while our corporate chain in China will keep expanding in Hangzhou.
12. Dodo’s first nationwide charity initiative
Dodo Pizza has matured into a solid enterprise, and we’re ready to launch our first nationwide charity initiative. The Dodo team has decided to focus their efforts on kids who lack opportunities in their lives. In more than 500 units in Russia, we’ll start selling cool branded things — T‑shirts, cups, bags. All the profits from such products will go to Big Brothers Big Sisters, a great charity that provides kids in difficult situations with individual mentors who help them navigate this world and become successful against all odds.
Watch the entire event with translation in English: