How to reinvent franchising with tech and transparency

With Eugeny Naidenov, Ultimate Guitar founder, at the westernmost Dodo Pizza in Russia—in Baltiysk, near Kaliningrad.

In a small town, we saw good service, an awesome product, and a super clean and welcoming pizzeria. Feeling really inspired. Everything we’ve been working so hard and relentlessly on at Dodo Pizza is bearing fruit. There are only 33 thousand people living in Baltiysk. Yet, just a few months since its launch, our pizzeria already nets around 1.5 million rubles ($23,000) a month.

Dodo Pizza in Baltiysk was opened by Denis Usalev and Darya Mishueva. They gave up their fancy Moscow jobs and moved to Baltiysk. They took loans and invested all their money in their first pizza shop. Darya dreamt of living on a sea. Denis wanted to start his own business. Now they live on a sea and deliver happiness to their customers every day.

Daria and Denis are deeply involved in their business. They do everything—from buying fresh vegetables to working at the cash desk and doing deliveries. They work 24/7 but don’t look tired—they look happy.

It’s an utmost pleasure to work with such partners as Denis and Darya. It’s a blessing—and a huge responsibility. Thank you for your trust in our brand, Denis and Darya!

 

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A new big, hairy, audacious goal: to grow the number of Dodo Pizza shops in Europe, the US, and China from 16 to 200 by the end of 2021. Quite a challenge for our team—since now our business is struggling hard in these regions.

Dodo in Brighton, UK made it to the top 50 pizza joints in the country, but is still unprofitable, and a year has passed since its launch.

After a good start in the US in Oxford, our second American location, Dodo Pizza Southaven is already nine months old,...

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The very first Dodo Pizza in Slovenia in the charming Ljubljana. The design is ready. Isn’t she a beauty?

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If you are our customer, we want you to trash us. Was your pizza a disaster? Say it. Waited for eternity? Say it. Did we mess up your order? Say it. You think we’re idiots? Please, say that too.

Negative feedback is pure gold for our business. It allows our team to learn from mistakes and grow. And as with any precious resource, this gold is hard to come by—harder than many people think.

Most customers don’t like giving negative feedback. Because it’s not fun. They don’t want to look like jerks—they just keep...

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