High flyers
Entrepreneur Don Meij is the CEO of Domino’s Pizza Enterprises. He speaks with Alex Malley, chief executive of CPA Australia, about building a technology business around pizza and people.
Alex Malley: I’m interested in the link between someone whose adult life is focused on ideas and the nature of their childhood. You grew up in PNG – was your childhood filled with creativity?
Don Meij: Yes, definitely. My father always pushed me from very early on. I must have shown an ability to draw and paint from an early age so he used to challenge me. As a young kid, I did a lot more things and had a lot more freedom than kids do today. I would go out and explore all day with my friends – literally climb volcanoes and go through caves. It was very adventurous.
Let’s go back to 1987, when you started working at Silvio’s Dial-a-Pizza in Redcliffe, Brisbane. What was your role and what struck you about the industry?
I was at university and needed a second part-time job, like a lot of students, to fund my lifestyle. I was working at Coles on weekends then I started delivering pizzas for Silvio’s. Towards finishing my teaching degree, I realised teaching wasn’t for me. I have an entrepreneurial streak and, as much as I loved what I had learned – and I think it has helped me a lot – I didn’t want to teach. I then took a job as a store manager at Silvio’s and I suppose it was my first chance to show what was inside me. I realised you could build a business through doing certain things that made a difference and you could turn losses into profits or profits into big profits. I found it exciting and very dynamic.
These days, at Domino’s, you’re clearly the first mover on many ideas in technology; for example, the autonomous pizzadelivery vehicle, Domino’s Robotic Unit, you’re developing. How does your organisation implement those ideas?
When you’re building a robot, you think: what does a pizza company know about building a robot? So let’s go find the partners that can help us build the robot. We chase [the idea] really hard and really quickly and we’ve spent a lot of time visiting Silicon Valley to learn how to be lean and agile. Anybody can be an innovator; it’s just how you go about it. And it doesn’t always have to cost a lot of money – some of the best ideas cost hardly anything.
It’s interesting to watch leaders who are quite dominant and lead from the front. What do you think is your impact on your organisation holistically?
We’re in seven countries now in very diverse cultures but my role is to create a sense of urgency around what we can do. The wolf at the front of the pack is trying to set the pace for the pack and the integrity and culture.
American Express was a travel company that became a financial services organisation. I could argue that your business is a technology company that has a by-product called pizza. Do you see a business within a business that could ultimately expand into a series of products because the framework, the communication channels and the digital aspect are so strong?
I think that’s true. We’re working on projects that conceptually could be bigger than our pizza business. But everything is developed around the customer so pizza is important to us as the core of what we are. Of course, we need to go forward and ensure we don’t end up like Kodak or Blockbuster by being disrupted. So we’re a technology business and an innovative business but, as cool as the tech is, if the pizza we’re delivering isn’t that great then no-one is going to repurchase. So it’s still really centralised around consumers, with pizza at the heart.
I take it you have the “impatient gene”?
You can’t thrive and survive in our organisation without that gene. But we have a very strong check-and-balance team – we can’t drive ourselves off cliffs. We push ourselves that little bit harder for a quality outcome, not just any outcome.
Is there a single, most important lesson you’ve learned in your career?
When you’re trying to move quickly, take responsibility for your actions and decisions. Things don’t always go to plan. Things go wrong and if you’re prepared to have open conversations, you’re more likely to let go quickly and pace the learning. Defending your position or pointing blame is irrelevant. So many companies stand their old ground rather than take responsibility for what the future could look like, should look like and will eventually look like.
You’re now in a number of markets. What’s your vision, your dream?
We’re going to become a much bigger business. We take great pride in the fact that we’re changing the world in our space. It goes beyond money – it’s changing communities, it’s changing Australia. Domino’s is one of the biggest companies in Queensland today. We’re not that naïve – we’re a pizza company but a pizza company that’s getting very big.
Is that what makes it more exciting: basically you’re selling pizzas but you can build that business into something big?
We’ve knocked off iconic Australian businesses that have been on the ASX for decades. We’re now bigger than them and there’s a lot of pride in that. It’s easy to dismiss a little old pizza company but this little old pizza company is making a difference and customers are rewarding us accordingly.
If I asked your wife, Jenny, “How balanced is Don’s life?” what would she say?
We don’t really live in balance; we try to create something that is happy and positive but it’s not balanced. In this very dynamic lifestyle, with our four kids, we’re always trying to give enough time and balance. We’re off to Hawaii for a week and everyone is bringing a friend. So we’ve got eight kids. Eight kids on a holiday? That’s not balance.
How important is your relationship with Jenny to the life you’ve built together?
One of the biggest decisions – and the best decision – you make in your life is your partner and Jenny is incredibly supportive of this crazy lifestyle we’ve put together. She believes in what we’re doing but, on the other hand, she’s able to take me away from the work from time to time, to clear my mind. She’ll just say, “Okay, family time.” I’m very fortunate to have such an amazing, supportive partner and wife.
“We’ve spent a lot of time visiting Silicon Valley to learn how to be lean and agile.” DON MEIJ