Coders & Cooks Ltd. We might've chosen this name — instead of Dodo Brands. After all, we're a team of software developers and foodservice professionals who joined forces to reimagine the time-tested (but somewhat old-fashioned) franchising business.
Three key elements define our approach:
- We develop vibrant foodservice concepts with a balanced mix of dine-in and delivery (currently: Dodo Pizza, Drinkit, and Doner 42);
- We support our brands with cloud-based tech solutions for customers and partners — built in-house by our team of 120+ software engineers and analytics (aka Dodo IS);
- We foster a fair franchising system based on the principle of radical transparency (and when I say fair and radical, I mean it).
We got noticed
Fyodor Ovchinnikov, the founder of Dodo Brands, received Ernst & Young’s 2018 “Entrepreneur of the Year Award” in the “restaurant business” category.
In 2019, our main brand, Dodo Pizza, received the GRLC Distinction Award for Innovation at the Global Restaurant Leadership Conference in Singapore.
Dodo Pizza has also been featured by Bloomberg, Microsoft, and Der Spiegel.
Show me your tech stack
I won’t — boring! But I’ll tell you this: Dodo IS, our proprietary tech platform, covers almost every part of the foodservice business — from powering the mobile apps, websites, and contact centers, to providing tools for kitchen workflow management and sales analytics.
- Dodo IS is deeply integrated with our management system;
- It works as a web application, which makes it accessible from any browser and provides management with real-time data (and how cool is that?);
- As the platform owners, we at Dodo Brands maintain full control over our tech solutions and can acquire knowledge and skills that are essential for survival in the digital world.
“Dodo has developed into one of the industry’s first truly digital-first concepts”
Openness: buzzword or true belief
Dodo Brands is different from any other franchise group in how it treats its customers and partners. Total transparency is the brand’s foundation.
Most units in the group boast an open kitchen, and most kitchens in the chain are equipped with webcams (where local laws permit). The managing company broadcasts its weekly meetings on YouTube. It also publishes audited consolidated reports and monthly trading updates.
Dodo’s CEO, Fyodor Ovchinnikov, constantly covers the latest company news and business insights on social media (you should follow — he’s quite a blogger).
Where we come from
- Our story begins in Syktyvkar, Russia where Fyodor Ovchinnikov launches his first Dodo Pizza delivery-only shop with less than $50,000 in savings and loans in 2011.
- Building on the success of the first unit, Dodo Pizza starts to franchise its business in 2012.
- In 2014, Dodo Pizza opens its first franchised unit outside Russia — in Brasov, Romania and also launches the world’s first commercial pizza delivery by drone.
- Dodo becomes the largest pizza chain in Russia in 2016.
- The Dodo team decides to reach beyond pizza and develop new foodservice concepts in 2019.
- In 2020, the holding company is rebranded as Dodo Brands. Two new concepts — Drinkit and Doner 42 — are launched.