In 2011, Fyodor Ovchinnikov launched Dodo Pizza with less than $50,000 in savings and loans. Without any backing from venture capitalists or major financial groups, the Dodo team grew the brand from one tiny pizza delivery in a windowless basement to hundreds of pizza stores in less than 10 years.
Dodo now
- company-owned and franchised units in countries (the full list: United Arab Emirates, Russia, Armenia, Cyprus, Romania, Turkey, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Belarus, Nigeria, Slovenia, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Georgia, Serbia, Germany, Poland, Estonia and Lithuania);
- $985 mln in system sales in 2023 (28% growth from 2022);
- Number 1 among the fastest-growing restaurant brands in Europe (2022);
- Number 34 in Europe’s top 99 foodservice brands ranking (2022);
- Market leader in Russia, our home market (as big as three closest competitors — Domino’s, Papa John’s, and Pizza Hut — combined);
- Also the market leader in Kazakhstan;
- Dodo Pizza was recognized as the most innovative foodservice brand at Global Restaurant Leadership Conference in Singapore in 2019;
- The world’s fastest growing pizza chain (Technomic, 2021);
“Dodo has developed into one of the industry’s first truly digital-first concepts, with technology figuring into all aspects of operations.” Global Restaurant Leadership Conference
But how?
- From day one, the company invested in its own digital platform Dodo IS);
- Digitalization of the entire business made it possible to control quality across the board despite the challenges of a fast-paced growth;
- Dodo Pizza opted out of working with delivery aggregators and has managed to maintain direct contact with its customers.
Dodo IS. One system to rule them all (everything you need to know about our tech platform)
To sum up
In the near future, we plan to strengthen our positions in a complex but crucial market for us — in the UAE. We will start by expanding our network in Dubai. We have developed a new format for pizzerias with a children’s pizza academy specifically for this market — this will help us stand out among competitors and quickly build a beloved brand.
In addition to this, we have already ventured into Turkey with three strong partners — our goal there is to achieve full coverage and surpass key players in the market within 5 years.
But what about our domestic market — Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus? Our aim there is to double our sales and coverage in the next three years.
A very personal post from Fyodor Ovchinnikov: CEO’s letter
Partnership
If you want to bring Dodo Pizza to your region as our master franchisee or just launch one pizza store, fill out this form — and we’ll get back to you.
If you’re looking for investment opportunities, come back a bit later — we’re working on a section for investors.
If you’d like to join our team, check out Dodo’s page on LinkedIn.
If you’d like to follow our company development in real time — follow our new CEO Alena Tikhova on Linkedin.