Domino’s expects sales pressure to persist after miss in first quarter
2022.04.28 16:06
FILE PHOTO: A Domino’s Pizza restaurant is seen in Los Angeles, California, U.S. July 18, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo
(Reuters) -Domino’s Pizza Inc missed quarterly U.S. same-store sales estimates on Thursday and said staffing shortages and unprecedented inflation will haunt it further into the year, sending the fast-food chain’s shares down 5%.
U.S. restaurants have in recent months struggled to keep their workers from leaving for higher-paying jobs, with Domino’s even offering consumers a $3 coupon code for picking up their own online orders due to a labor shortage during the quarter.
The pandemic-led trend of ordering food online has also waned as people visit dine-in restaurants more.
“We faced a number of headwinds during the first quarter … we expect some of these headwinds are likely to persist further into 2022,” Domino’s Chief Executive Officer Ritch Allison said in a statement.
The downbeat update from Domino’s comes at a time when Wall Street analysts have said staffing issues in the U.S. restaurant industry are abating, setting up fast-food and dine-in chains for a stronger second half of the year.
Domino’s said U.S. same-store sales decreased 3.6% in the first quarter ended March 27, while analysts polled by Refinitiv on average had expected a 0.6% decline.
The world’s largest pizza chain’s net income fell 23% to around $91 million, or $2.50 per share. Analysts on average had expected $3.06 per share.
