Domino's expects sales pressure to persist after miss in first quarter

DOMINO'S Pizza missed quarterly US same-store sales estimates on Thursday (Apr 28) and said staffing shortages and unprecedented inflation will haunt it further into the year, sending the fast-food chain's shares down 5 per cent.

US restaurants have in recent months struggled to keep their workers from leaving for higher-paying jobs, with Domino's even offering consumers a US$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 US restaurant industry are abating, setting up fast-food and dine-in chains for a stronger second half of the year.

Domino's said US same-store sales decreased 3.6 per cent in the first quarter ended March 27, while analysts polled by Refinitiv on average had expected a 0.6 per cent decline.

The world's largest pizza chain's net income fell 23 per cent to around US$91 million, or US$2.50 per share. Analysts on average had expected US$3.06 per share. REUTERS