"DominosPizza" news and stories

Muslims in three British cities can take Domino's off their speed-dial. It seems the pizza company thought that it could transform this Middle-East-meets-West culture clash into gold, but its plans failed miserably.

A year and a half ago, the pizza chain began offering halal-only menus at three of its outposts in predominantly Muslim neighborhoods of Birmingham, Bradford and Blackburn, according to London's Daily Telegraph.

But Domino's apparently overestimated the gusto with which Muslims would welcome the opportunity to order American-style pizzas topped with ingredients whose processing and preparation conform with Islamic law, while the absolute banishment of one Quranic taboo -- pork -- seemed to have alienated the stores' native British clientele.

The story ends (as so many of these stories do) with a corporate press release: "[The halal menu] hasn't had the impact expected and the company has reluctantly decided to return to a conventional Domino's menu in all three stores," quotes the Daily Telegraph.

Photo: miskan/flickr

A Domino's Pizza franchise in North Carolina was forced to close its doors forever last week, and its owner puts the blame on disgusting videos two former employees posted on YouTube.

"My business was off 58 percent because of YouTube," franchise owner Kevin Hendren told the Hickory Daily Record. The store closed on Sept. 22.

The franchise's troubles began when two employees of his Conover, N.C., Domino's Pizza allegedly created videos of themselves showing one putting cheese in his nose and then putting it on a sandwich, sneezing on cheese sticks and pulling down his pants, wiping himself with a sponge and then using that sponge to clean a pan. The videos were discovered in April and have been removed from YouTube.

Hendren told the newspaper he will not reopen the Domino's franchise. "I'm just living day to day right now," he told the Daily Record.

Photo: miskan/flickr

To celebrate the auspicious date of Sept. 9, 2009 (09/09/09), Domino's is offering free food on Sept. 9, but there is a catch.

Domino's is offering 99 $25 coupons to those who can prove they'll turn 9 or 99 on Sept. 9.