For the greatest example of American perseverance, entrepreneurship and drive, few examples of the 21st century are as striking as the new recipe of Domino’s Pizza. Bear with me here.
Earlier in the year, faced with a pizza recipe rated among one of the worst in the country, Domino’s faced this fact with the kind of spirit that built this country. It decreed it would remake its recipe until it had a better pizza. It succeeded.
In just four months, according to a May 5 USA Today article, Domino’s reported a gain of 14.3 percent, which “ranks as one of the largest quarterly same-store sales jumps ever recorded by a major fast-food chain.” Furthermore, the article went on to point out that “at a time where the $22 billion pizza-delivery business — quashed by the recession and vastly improved frozen-pizza technologies — fell three percent,” Domino’s success is even more striking and inspiring.
The United States has had a history of perseverance and determination, however; in the modern era these ideals seemed to have been replaced with greed and stupidity. But one pizza company said to the world it was willing to work to be better, that being slightly better than Chuck E. Cheese’s pizza was not good enough, and that it could be and will be better.
While some are saying the sales increase won’t last, the fact that the pizza itself is better suggests people will come back for more, so while sales may not be as dramatic in the future, they will likely be higher and that means the new taste is going to stick around.
A pizza chain changing its recipe may seem like a trivial thing when compared to healthcare or British oil invading our country by sea—at least we can light the lanterns easily to warn us—and a ton of other things affecting the country. But this is exactly why this recipe change is so important, because it shows that once you sit down and decide to create change, change will occur. Congress realized this when it passed healthcare reform in time to use it as a campaigning tool.
In the dark times of the new century, the country seems to have entered a descent into chaos and disorder, fueled by greed and the lust for power. However, when all seemed truly lost, a lone beacon of light shone against the night of despair. This beacon, once dirty, soft and not good tasting, was reworked, redesigned and finally changed into a new, better product.
That Domino’s beacon showed the country, and indeed the world, that if you are willing to admit to your own shortcomings and are willing to fix them, no matter how easy or difficult the process of change, if you truly believe in that change, you will make it happen. And once it is done, the world will have changed for the better. It may sound like a stretch, but if a pizza company can do it, maybe we can, too.
