Domino's launches safety ads

Nation's Restaurant News, August 14, 1989 by Bill Carlino

Domino's launches safety ads

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- In an effort to weather the typhoon of driving-negligence charges sparked by more than 20 delivery-related deaths, Domino's pizza has rolled out a massive ad campaign asserting that the company is committed to safe driving.

Slated to appear in selected insurance, food-service, and police trade publications and on 21 million Domino's pizza box tops, the print ads are actually a signed statement from Domino's president, Dave Black.

In the ad he states that road safety has always been the first concern of the chain's nearly 80,000 drivers.

"One of the things we hope to clear up is public perception of the 30-minute delivery service," said Ron Hingst, a spokesman for Domino's. "Things like drivers attempting to deliver five to six pizzas within the 30-minute limit and paying the $3 refund out of their own pocket. These charges are just not true."

Originally perceived as a revolutionary marketing tool when it was launched two and one-half years ago, the Domino's guarantee has come under siege because of 20 accident-related deaths involving the company's delivery drivers in 1988. The fatalities, coupled with numerous reports of reckless driving, catapulted the controversial service to the national forefront.

Over the past year Domino's 30-minute delivery has been the subject of stinging scrutiny by investigative reporters on NBC's "First Edition" news magazine and CBS news.

Domino's has even become the object of ridicule on the "Tonight Show," as guest host Jay Leno recently told a national viewing audience if they wanted to cause mayhem on the road, they need only attach a Domino's sign to their car.

Some citizens have formed coalitions calling for the eradication of Domino's 30-minute delivery service.

Suzanne Boutros, a secretary in Indianapolis, has launched a statewide petition to ban the service in Indiana.

In June Boutros' son, Jesse Colson, was killed when his truck fishtailed on a rain-slicked road and rammed a utility pole. Colson, 17, was a Domino's driver en route to delivering a pizza.

"I'm not against home delivery by any means," Boutros explained. "But how can a 30-minute guarantee not encourage some teen-ager to speed?"

Boutros has already forwarded the first batch of petition signatures to Sen. Richard Luger, R-Ind.

The 650-unit Godfather's Pizza chain experimented with an identical 30-minute delivery service but dropped it after one year.

"We discontinued it in the interest of public safety," said company spokesman Steve Frisbie. "The 30-minute delivery was getting a lot of bad press, and there had been some close calls with our cars. So, before one of our drivers was involved in a serious accident or killed, we just stopped it."

Frisbie added that the chain experienced no real decline in sales as a result of terminating the 30-minute delivery.

"Is it worth a person's life for a 30-minute pizza delivery?" asked Kenneth R. Behrend, a Pittsburgh-based attorney. "Domino's is just like any full-service restaurant, but instead of waiters, they use cars. The only difference is that if the waiter runs fast, they can't kill anyone with a tray."

Behrend is currently representing a couple whose car was broadsided by a Domino's driver in a Pittsburgh parking lot. He has subpoenaed Domino's in an effort to obtain the chain's records involving all delivery-related accidents.

He also plans to take depositions from the company's top officers, including chairman Tom Monaghan; Mike Orcutt, Domino's vice president of operations; and Black.

Behrend also seared the negative incentives staged by some franchised Domino's units, such as the "King of Slow" buttons given to the driver who has accumulated the most $3 refunds at the end of the shift.

"We certainly wouldn't condone something like that," Hingst countered. `And if we found out about it, we'd obviously make them stop it. Contrary to what most people think, the $3 refund is budgeted like a coupon and always has been."

Domino's requires that all delivery drivers for its 1,300 company-owned stores be at least 18 years of age, and it has urged franchisees to follow suit.

Hingst added that the company also runs a thorough motor vehicle registration check of the licenses of all Domino's drivers, searching for past violations. Domino's also offers a toll-free number that people can call if they witness any obvious traffic violations by Domino's drivers.

Another critic of Domino's 30-minute delivery is Joe Kinney, the director of the Chicago-based National Safe Work Place Institute. The NSWPI is a non-profit organization that investigates job safety and health issues.

"If you converted the number of part-time drivers to fulltime workers and compared that figure against last year's fatality rate of 20, a Domino's delivery driver has two to three times the risk factor of a coal miner or a construction worker," Kinney explained.

Hingst, however, questioned the practice of comparing Domino's with other fields of employment.

"Our business depends on take-out and delivery," Hingst stated. "No other chain does as much home delivery as we do."