By Chelsea Boyle
News that Domino’s is coming to Masterton for the third time may have raised eyebrows, but the team behind the scenes are confident it is the right move.
Domino’s New Zealand general manager Scott Bush said he was excited about the move to Masterton.
“We feel the need is there to go back to Masterton.”
Mr Bush said that this time around they are going to focus on engaging with the community by supporting local charities and by being involved with as many sporting clubs as they could.
As an ex-franchise owner Mr Bush said he understood how important it is to engage with the local community.
That is where they may have missed the mark in the past, he said.
“We are going to give away a lot of pizza when we come back in that opening week.”
He said a lot of research had gone into picking the location of the new store in Chapel Street North because a big part of the franchise’s previous failings in Masterton had been due to location.
“The opportunity came up to go into this location, which is obviously near the other big players, which is really exciting,” Mr Bush said.
“It’s the perfect location.
“If you look at the locality of all the food hubs or precincts around the world, they all sort of congregate in the one place.
“Consumers want choice.”
He also said the menu had changed dramatically since the business had last been in Masterton.
“Even as recently as September this year, with our taste the colour campaign – which is all about a much fresher, colourful approach,” he said.
“We are using a red, green, yellow capsicum now… We are using shallots. We are using sesame seeds on our Korean chicken wings.
“Our desserts are really out of the world.
“It’s really exciting to be able to offer that to the people of Masterton.”
Mr Bush said the store would employ somewhere between 20 – 40 people.
They had hoped to have a Masterton local leading the franchise.
“Ultimately we were looking for a local to take the business on, to really instill a bit of that local culture and that whole Masterton-centric feel to the business,” Mr Bush said.
“We haven’t been able to do that, I can understand people’s nervousness around it.”
However, Mr Bush said there would be opportunities for employees to rise through the ranks and when the time comes for the franchise to change hands he hoped a local would be at the helm.
“I would like to think that they could sign some local people to take the business on and turn it into a true local business with local people owning and operating it.”
He also said the business in Masterton could be a huge possibility for drone delivery in future.
