Domino’s refutes squeezing franchisees

dominos-cheltenhamDomino’s Pizza has responded to recent media reports of squeezing its franchisees and underpaying employees, defending its record of profitability and franchisee relationships.

Ahead of its half year results announcement on Wednesday, the pizza chain said it “works closely with franchisees in relation to marketing, training, technology and administrative support to provide them with the best opportunity for profitability and success” and this meant the number of small businesses that did not make a profit in the last 12 months had reduced to 21 in the last financial year.

Domino’s said 87 per cent of new store owners came from within its existing network over the last year and that in the past three years, it had removed four franchisees who had operated seven stores for deliberately underpaying employees.

The pizza chain said it has a dedicated investigative and auditing compliance department that works with the Fair Work Ombudsman and that there was no evidence of a link between franchise profitability and any breaches of employment obligations in this time.

Commenting on the speculation that it had sold visas, Domino’s said it had not previously received any complaints of fraud and is now investigating the report.

More to come.

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