How to reinvent franchising with tech and transparency

Our pizzeria in Hangzhou has been working for five days now, and I’ve just gotten around to sharing our first results, findings, and observations with you.

Last year, we made the decision to launch a pizzeria in China in a completely new format for us. We called this project “the pizzeria of the future” because it would be without cash or cashiers, and all orders would be processed via the Chinese messenger WeChat app. We also planned to use a new kind of dough (pre-baked dough) that would allow us to make a small pizza for...

We’ve closed two of our pizzerias. In business, sometimes it’s important to cut your losses, draw necessary conclusions, and move on. So we’ve closed our small “Dodo Pizza and Coffee” pizzeria in Syktyvkar.

The idea was beautiful, but ultimately, this experiment hadn’t become profitable. Nonetheless, we should thank it for the accumulated experience. Technologies and design created for this project are the central elements of our format. We’ve created new interior design for this pizzeria, as well as our “pizza slices” product that is timer prepared and priced flexibly (it sells at a discount after 45 minutes; after 60, it is written off).

Also, Mikhail Kropanev, our partner in China, has closed our first Hangzhou pizzeria. It was located at a distance from the main thoroughfares. Unlike our pizzeria in Yantai and despite all our efforts, the Hangzhou pizzeria at that location and in that format couldn’t become profitable. Mikhail doesn’t plan to leave the business altogether and intends to open a new pizzeria.

We’re working on our first corporate pizzeria in Hangzhou. This will be a pizzeria in a completely new format, and a brave attempt to break into the Chinese market. What’s that all about? Check out our earlier posts.

As you know, we are planning to open our first corporate pizzeria in Hangzhou, the Internet capital of China. We call this project “the pizzeria of the future”. Why? Because it will be a unique experiment designed specifically for modern China. There will be no cashiers, and all orders will be processed via the WeChat messenger. The key element of our design will be media screens showing our product ads—and those ads won’t be what the European pizza market is accustomed to. We will serve every pizza-for-one in a beautifully designed small box, and it will be oblong rather than round. In Moscow, such product is sometimes known as “pinza.” There will be pizza with crawfish, duck, tofu, fresh mango, and avocado, and even M&M’s on our menu.

From time to time, I will tell you the latest about our Hangzhou project and also show you a few things. We’ve already started the rough-in there, and the final design draft is just about ready.

This is how it looks at the moment. Those purple panels are media screens. In our pizzeria, the interior and video design will be one and the same. The pizzeria will be changing its colors constantly; when you see an avocado pizza, the pizzeria is green; a mango pizza, it’s yellow, etc. You just can’t walk by—you simply have to come in and try it.

The opening will be in spring of 2019, and meanwhile, you can look around our pizzeria here.

It’s done. We’ve been working towards this for many months. We’ve finally signed an agreement to lease premises in an A-category shopping mall in Hangzhou, China. In the photo, Bauyrzhan Sadykov, the leader of the Dodo Pizza China team, holds a signed lease contract with a shopping mall named “501.”

That wasn’t easy. The first potential place for our Hangzhou “pizzeria of the future” was found in the summer. Our Chinese company was still getting registered at the time, so we signed a letter of intent with a private citizen who owned the premises. We designed...

Meet Mr. Xie. Mr. Xie is a real estate agent. He works with retail property. And he believes in us. We wouldn’t be able to meet the managers of a big shopping mall in Hangzhou and interest them in collaboration with Dodo Pizza if it wasn’t for him. Personal relationships and contacts are very important in China. Why did Mr. Xie help us? He saw the long-term opportunities and felt that he could trust us. He has yet to make money from our collaboration, but he’s already done a lot. A few days ago, he invited managers of shopping malls all over Hangzhou to WeWork so we could do a presentation of our company and the concept of our pizzeria here. As per usual in China, a lot of precise and straightforward questions were asked. And after that, we invited everybody to dinner. In China, a good business meeting always ends with a meal. Business, relationships, and food are inseparable here. I’m certain that everybody who was there will come to our “pizzeria of the future” grand opening, and this will be a new beginning and a new step forward for us. Today we plant the seeds with open hearts, and tomorrow some of them are bound to grow. Thank you, Mr. Xie. We will not let you down. We highly appreciate our partnership and your trust.