Domino's: Farmers know best

Food companies and restaurant chains continue to adopt animal welfare policies like cage-free eggs, chicken raised without antibiotics and gestation stall-free pork. Many of these changes come after intimidation by animal rights activists.

You won’t find Domino’s on the list of those companies.

DBMMC reached out to Tim McIntyre, executive vice president of communication, investor relations and legislative affairs with Domino’s, to find out more about why the pizza chain has not succumbed to the pressure.

Q: Can you explain how Domino’s responds when activists make animal welfare demands of food companies and restaurant chains like yours?

A: Like any responsible organization, we do pay attention when issues arise, and we do care about animal welfare. Unlike some others, though, we don’t immediately jump to a short-term “PR” answer – meaning, we don’t make decisions to get people to “back off” or make an issue go away. We take the time to understand the issue. We research. We make informed decisions, based on real science.

But we do have a bias – and that is that we will defer to the experts. And to us, the best experts we can find in farming are, well, farmers. We pay attention to known, respected animal agricultural experts, veterinarians and professors, and to our suppliers. Those are the voices we listen to.

In the end, if a request comes to us in a reasonable fashion, we’ll provide an answer, even if it’s not the answer they’re looking for. For example, we believe animals that are sick should be treated. We believe that is the humane thing to do. That goes against the wishes of the ‘anti-antibiotic’ groups out there. We know that there is no antibiotic residue in meat or milk, but there’s a fear out there and fear is a great motivator. We try not to fall into that trap.  

We don’t answer everyone, though. Sometimes, based on the history and reputation of an organization, we file it away and move on.

But let’s be clear. We know sometimes there are bad actors and people have abused animals. That is atrocious and unacceptable. But that’s not standard industry practice; these people are the exception, not the norm. We’ve had employees do unacceptable things while they’ve been on the clock or in uniform in our brand. When we find out about it, we address it immediately – and we do it with the best interest of our brand, our customers and our franchisees in mind. But we take comfort in knowing that those individuals acted on their own – they do not represent the rest of us.

Q: Wouldn’t it be easier, in the long run, for the company to fall in line, given the negative publicity that can result?

A: It’s funny that you equate “easy” with the long run, because really “easy” is the short-term response. It seems to me that sometimes people make those 20-year promises for their brands knowing they aren’t going to be around when the bill comes due. We don’t believe in kicking the can down the road. We don’t want to make promises we can’t keep, and more importantly, we don’t think we should be making promises on behalf of other people. It might seem “easier,” but we don’t look for easy. Easy isn’t necessarily best. If anything is easy for us, it’s our default position that farmers know best how to farm; they know best how to care for their animals.  

Q: What have been some of the lessons the company has learned in this approach?

A: We have learned to take a reasoned, long-term approach to big, deep topics. We’ve learned that research is important; we’ve learned science-based decisions are best. I’m reading the biography of John Adams right now and one of the things he said while he was practicing law is that “facts are stubborn things.” You might not like it, but it’s true.

Does that mean we ignore everything? Of course not. We are also listening to our core customers. If there are ingredients in our toppings they find troublesome and we can produce the product without those things (dyes, preservatives and the like), we’re quietly eliminating those things. Unlike others, we don’t trumpet every time we remove something. We don’t use these changes as marketing tools; to us, it’s just doing the right thing.

Q: What sort of relationship does Domino’s have with farmers?

A: We like to think it’s pretty good. We appreciate where our food comes from: farmers! When I spoke at an animal agriculture event some months back, a fifth-generation hog farmer from Missouri stood up and began to tell her story.  She thanked us for being one of the very few brands who stand up for farmers. While telling her story, she began to cry – as did a few others in the audience. That’s when you know it’s not just business. That farm has been in her family for more than 100 years. Its roots are deep. That means something, and we try not to forget that.