A Record-Breaking Opening, a Supply Chain Setback, and a Brand Heartbreak
I opened the first store in the Dominican Republic, and we broke records. It was an amazing opening. But it was also quite challenging; I’m not going to lie… But all those setbacks helped me understand and polish what I knew about establishing a master franchise in a new territory.
It all started when I was a Training Specialist for Master Franchisees at headquarters in Michigan (read all about it in this blog post). Luis, the future Master Franchisee of the Dominican Republic, happened to be part of that group, and not long after the training ended, I was informed that I had been assigned to go to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, to support him with the opening of the first Domino’s Pizza in the country.
My next assignment really excited me! Not only had we worked together smoothly, but we also got along well, so I looked forward to this new destination and to helping him turn his dreams into reality.
A couple of weeks later, I arrived in the Dominican Republic. For the first couple of days, I unpacked and got familiar with the surroundings and my new neighborhood. Then, I got right into work at the designated location.
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The Challenges of Opening a New Franchise Unit
When I got to the store in the small neighborhood of Naco, everything was already being prepared for the grand opening, but we still had about a month and a half of work left. My focus was on setting up the store, getting the equipment right, and training the franchise team to make sure they could do an excellent job for this big opening.
Domino's Pizza was the second American franchise brand in the Dominican Republic. And ever since we put up the Domino’s sign outside the building, people stopped by regularly, asking when we would open. Everyone was eager and excited to try this new American pizza, and we could tell this opening would be a special event. And it was! But it was not easy. We had all kinds of challenges.
Train a Battalion
We wanted to make sure our customers had the best possible experience. So, to get ready, we hired over 100 employees for that unit, which, of course, had to be trained on all the brand systems, processes, and procedures.
I didn’t do it alone. After my first day at the store, I called my boss, who lived in Florida, and said, “Hey, Francisca, I need you to send me help because this is going to be big!” Thankfully, our representative from Venezuela came all the way to the Dominican Republic to help me with the opening. Because of him, operations sailed smoothly.
We also had four assistant managers, so we’d have the right leaders to train the new manager. Remember: as I explained in a previous blog post, my goal as Training Specialist was to eliminate the need for me to be there.
And because we delivered on scooters in this country, we also hired dozens and dozens of scooter delivery drivers, who were parading across the city weeks before the opening so they could learn the streets, the addresses, and how to get around.
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The Supply Chain Setback that Delayed the Grand Opening
Alone with all that training, we also had to set up a supply chain in the back of this first location, as we did in every country we opened, so the store could also function as a production site to make the pizza dough, which had to be fresh every day.
This meant we ran the Domino’s Pizza store during the day, but as soon as it closed, we switched to running the supply chain in the back of the house in the evenings. The location wasn't big enough to do that, but we had to do what we could with what we had.
One of the worst challenges we faced when we were getting ready to open had to do precisely with the supply chain.
When Domino’s opened a new unit in a new country, we imported most products from the US. This was no exception, so the cheese, the pepperoni, the ham, the bacon—everything came from the United States, frozen. Except for the vegetables; we sourced those locally.
Within the initial order of imported products needed for the grand opening, Luis shipped a container full of cheese. But when we opened the container, we realized the product was refrigerated, not frozen. The product's health wasn’t an issue. But the cheese had compacted, so instead of having nice fluffy cheese, we had blocks of mozzarella.
It was a big disaster! But we had to shake it off, figure out what to do, and try to solve the problem by ordering another container of mozzarella cheese.
As you can imagine, the urgency delayed the opening. But we used this setback to finish assembling the equipment, reinforce the team members' training, and have them practice everything.
Hitting a Record Opening
Even with this delay, we had a record opening in Domino’s International, which was fantastic! We had an amazing service process because, again, we had 117 members in that one location. It was so good that only a few months later, Luis opened his second location.
Looking back, I believe two things we implemented truly helped us hit that record opening:
- We ran a very structured, fast training for the team members because we wanted to make sure they were all properly trained.
- At the same time, we were very careful not to waste our labor costs, even before we opened. With so many team members, you have to coordinate scheduling closely.
I spent about three months in the Dominican Republic: about a month and a half before opening and another month and a half afterward to make sure everything was running smoothly.
While it was a very short assignment, I really got close to the people there. Working with them shoulder to shoulder every day let me truly get to know them and learn about their families, ambitions, and dreams.
The same happened to me at every destination I worked. Even though I knew I might never see these people again when I left, which made me sad, I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything because they were truly wonderful.
Next: El Salvador & Costa Rica
After leaving Luis’s store ready, prepared, and thriving, I was sent to El Salvador for a few weeks and then to Costa Rica for a couple of weeks.
Both assignments were very similar: I was asked to reestablish the training process in those countries with those Master Franchisees. The reason is that, even though Domino’s had an operations manual that told Franchisees exactly how to run operations, many needed support translating those instructions into a day-to-day training process in their countries.
Did I mention I received zero training on how to do this? Yes, I knew how to run the operations, but no one taught me how to do the leadership job, how to think about these challenges, or how to organize the solutions. Everything that I did was something that I came up with on my own.
It’s funny how every time I arrived in a new country, people saw me as the representative of this American brand who had all the answers. But the truth is that nobody gave me the answers, other than what was established in the operations manual. I had to figure everything out on my own while representing the brand well and truly supporting these Master Franchises the best way possible.
After that, I went back to the Dominican Republic to open Domino’s second store, which was located in Arroyoondo. By the way, this was the only country I went to twice during those three years as a Nomad Franchise Executive, from 1992 to 1995.
Again, that was another amazing opening. We already had the experience of the first one, so everybody did a great job. And of course, more people could help because they had all the experienced managers from the first unit.
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Honduras and the Heartbreak
My last assignment that year, 1993, was in Honduras. I was sent there to improve supply chain operations, including dough production, handling all products and suppliers, ensuring standards and food safety were met, and optimizing distribution to the three stores in the country.
Again, I didn't have any training in distribution, supply chain, or production. My only exposure to these areas came through a Supply Chain expert who helped us solve some issues in Spain, my first international assignment; it wasn’t formal training, but purely through observation.
I applied everything I learned there to all subsequent supply chain assignments. And, of course, I could call him for support and to bounce ideas with him on how to solve things, but mostly, I figured things out on my own. I guess I'm just a problem solver!
It was my first time in Honduras, even though it’s a neighboring country to Guatemala, my hometown. I remember this particular assignment not just for the work and accomplishments we had there, but because of something really heartbreaking that happened while I was there.
No More 30-Minute Guarantee
On December 21, 1993, I received a phone call from my boss, Francisca, with bad news: Domino's Pizza was officially canceling the 30-minute guarantee across the entire United States. I literally cried! To this day, I believe it's probably one of the worst things that could happen to Domino's.
This drastic measure was taken because the brand had another lawsuit after a pizza delivery driver was involved in an accident, thankfully with no fatalities. However, the affected woman sued the brand, claiming that the driver was speeding because of the guarantee, and she won.
I think eventually there was another trial, and then it was backtracked; I'm not really sure. The bottom line is that, at that point, Tom Monaghan, the founder of Domino's Pizza, decided to cancel the guarantee because it was clearly causing a perception and a reputation issue.
Here’s where operations are so important. At Domino's, you can make a pizza in six minutes. Each unit has a designated delivery area where the distance is no more than eight minutes from the store during high-traffic times. So every franchise agreement includes a map of the delivery area, defined by the furthest point at eight minutes.
I know this because I was part of the team that defined those delivery areas.
So, if you can make a pizza in six minutes and the furthest point is eight minutes away, that means you have 16 minutes left to get there, or even to get lost or maybe deliver another pizza, and still make it on time.
We knew that internally, but clearly people outside our brand did not.
The news hit me so hard because I knew that something significant was going to change in the brand. You know how I always say that building a culture of metrics and understanding what winning looks like in numbers is critical. Well, for us, that 30-minute guarantee was, in fact, a metric that helped us understand whether our operations were good or not. We always strove to finish orders in under 30 minutes, and it helped us shape other aspects of our sales strategy.
It was really an innate part of the brand's culture. And it had just gotten canceled.
That's how I found out: on December 21, 1993, while sitting in the Honduras Master Franchisee’s office at the country's Supply Chain Distribution Center.
It really affected me. Luckily, I was able to take the holiday break at home in Guatemala, which helped me prepare for my next assignment.
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3 Lessons I Learned in 1993
These are a couple of things that I learned in this particular phase of my life:
1. Caring matters
Luis Rodriguez, the Master Franchisee of Domino's Pizza in the Dominican Republic, is a man I truly admire, not only because he’s a savvy business owner, a hard worker, and a knowledgeable professional, but also because he cares so much about the people.
I remember walking into his office once after we had that issue with the container and finding him troubled. His hands were covering his face, and he was staring down at a piece of paper, looking anxious and worried.
I said, “Luis, what happened? Not another container, please.” We couldn't delay opening any longer, or afford to lose anyone, but we also couldn’t keep paying them without opening.
He looked up and said, “No, Aicha, it's not another container. I just signed the first payroll check for all of our team members. 107 paychecks”.
“Ouch! It must be a big paycheck, right?” I said.
But he replied, “Beyond that. I just realized that who I am as a leader, as a business owner, as the person who leads this organization, will define and determine 107 families' financial stability. They are counting on me to do a good job with this business so that they can do well with their families.”
This moment has always stayed with me. His awareness of this and of the deep impact of his leadership showed he was the absolute right person to lead that organization.
I can happily say that Luis is still the Master Franchisee of that country, running over 30 units and doing quite well. I know much of his success comes from the kind of leader he is.
So if you ever strive to be a great business owner and build a multi-unit enterprise, it all starts with caring about your people. If you care about your people, they'll care about you and your business. And that's how you know you're going to do well.
2. You have to be flexible
Something else I learned about the Dominican Republic big opening was that no matter how carefully you design your plan, something can still go wrong. So you have to be flexible, open to whatever comes, and act as quickly as possible and as well as you can to recover and move on.
It happens all the time when you’re in business. Some things may be big, like a fire, flooding, or people walking out. Others might be small, like somebody coming into work late. Either way, as operators, we just need to be flexible, address the issues, and move on. That's how you'll do well in your business.
3. Everyone needs to be better at something
I was a Training Specialist, and I was not the only one. Master Franchisees around the world requested support in specific areas of their businesses, and our job was to go to their countries and stay there for a certain period to support them with whatever specific needs they had.
I was never short on work. I was constantly going from country to country; I rarely went back to the headquarters to wait for my next assignment. Most of the time, before an assignment ended, I already knew what my next assignment would be because there was much need.
Being a Training Specialist taught me that everyone needs to get better at something, and that it’s ok to ask for help when needed.
One way I measured my success was that every Franchisee I worked with asked me to stay and work with them at the end of my assignment, whether it was a serious offer or a joking one. My boss was in Miami, so she didn't know the quality of my day-to-day work. So I chose this “metric” for myself because it would mean I did such a good job that they wanted me to stay. To me, that was the best compliment I could receive.
However, I wouldn’t stay. I wanted to explore the world, keep learning, and go to different places. But if I accomplished that, I'd know I was doing a good job.
And I will tell you: every Franchisee I ever worked with asked me to stay and work for them, except in Brazil, because that Master Franchisee was in Sâo Paulo while I was in Rio de Janeiro. But that's a story for a future blog.
These are the lessons I learned in this phase of my life. If you want to hear about what other things I learned and experienced in this crazy journey as a Nomad Franchise Executive, don’t miss the upcoming blog posts, and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
And don't forget, if you want to acquire some of this knowledge that I have received in the last 35 years of my life, and how you can train your Managers and your District Managers with all of this knowledge, skills, processes, and routines that I learned in my career, explore our program’s website: American Franchise Academy Programs.
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