Domino’s success is based on an old, simple formula: sell pizza, deliver it fast and in large quantities. But the company also understands that it needs to be nimble and innovative to compete with more established competitors, such as Pizza Hut. Domino’s innovations include a special delivery vehicle, pizza-making robots and drones to get pizzas to customers even faster.
A domino is a small rectangular block of wood or resin, marked by spots or numbers resembling those on dice. A domino set consists of 28 tiles and is played by two players. Most of the games that involve dominoes are blocking or scoring games that depend on counting the pips (markings) in each player’s tiles. However, there are a number of other types of domino games as well. Some of them are adaptations of card games that can be played without the possibility of the wind blowing the cards away. Others are solitaire or trick-taking games that allow people to play when religious rules prohibit the use of cards.
Some domino sets are made from natural materials such as bone, silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (mother of pearl) and ivory; dark hardwoods like ebony; or metals like brass or pewter. These sets are more expensive than those made from polymer materials, but they have a more interesting look. The pips in the center of the domino are often inlaid or painted. These dominoes are usually called “European-style.”
Hevesh started playing with dominoes when she was 9. “My grandparents had the classic 28-pack,” she says. She loved setting up the dominoes in a straight or curved line, flicking the first one and watching the whole line fall, one domino after another.
When Hevesh creates her mind-blowing domino setups, she follows a version of the engineering-design process. She thinks about the theme or purpose of her installation, brainstorms images or words she might want to incorporate and then starts planning out the structure.
She also takes into account the forces that affect how the dominoes fall. She says, “The top of each domino has potential energy because it’s not moving. But the bottom of each domino has kinetic energy because it is moving. That kinetic energy is transferred from the domino to the next one.”
Domino’s senior executives knew they needed to innovate, but they weren’t sure how to do it. So they hired Doyle, who was a Domino’s delivery driver and later a delivery-truck test driver. Doyle’s big idea was to have Domino’s deliver pizzas with a special truck that was designed to be the fastest and most efficient way to transport the food. It turned out to be a great strategy. The pizzas were hotter and tastier, and the new trucks helped Domino’s deliver on its promise of speedy delivery. Customers loved it, and sales increased quickly.