How to reinvent franchising with tech and transparency

My friends, I would like to share some thoughts on our strategy in this new reality disrupted by the crisis. But first, let’s take a step back.A couple of weeks before the crisis started, our financial director, Kirill Vyrypaev, and I discussed the possibility of Dodo’s IPO in 2 years.

I have to explain here that our company has a lot of shareholders. About 200 of them are the investors who supported us during Dodo Pizza’s crowdinvesting campaign a few years ago. We didn't promise them dividends and quick returns. They invested their money in our company because...

As Dodo Pizza CEO, I've decided to lower my own salary to the lowest legally allowed figure. Why am I taking such a drastic measure?This past weekend our chain's sales in Russia—that's close to 90% of our business right now—have fallen by more than 30%. The quarantine enactment and the prohibition of restaurant work have taken their toll. Delivery revenue increase couldn't make up for the dent in our sales made by our closed restaurants. Obviously, our revenue will continue to decline in the near future.

Of course, we're not even thinking about giving up. We've already made...

In 2019, Dodo Pizza launched 141 new pizzerias and closed 5, capping off the year with 576 units in 13 countries. Outlets outside of Russia generated 11.4% of total revenue, up from 9.5% a year before. Our annual system sales exceeded 20.2 billion rubles—around $314m. In US dollars, that’s a 46% year-over-year growth in sales. Building at such a pace, Dodo remains one of the fastest-growing QSR brands in the world.

Next year, we will launch two new concepts—coffee shops and doner kebab houses. Pilot projects will be up and running in early 2020 in Moscow. By the end of the year, we will probably be ready to begin testing these new concepts together with our first franchisees.

Our expertise isn't just in pizza. We know how to create retail concepts, merge IT and operational business, build a franchising system, and team with strong entrepreneurs.So we are going to start launching new retail concepts based on the Dodo franchising platform that includes the Dodo IS digital platform, our supply network, quality control, training, communications, funding for franchisee growth, and many other things. We’re talking about coffee shops, sushi bars, bakeries, and even bed-and-breakfasts or dry cleaners. We will be changing people's lives for the better by creating everyday goods and services...