How Much Would You Say It Cost to Make a $5 Domino's Pizza?

So i am looking at my go to cheapest dinner option besides pasta / two minute noodles / cheese and bread and jalapenos and olives etc and was wondering.. How much do you reckon does it cost to make a $5 dominos pizza?

I usually order spicy veg / pepperoni or simply cheese but even also looking at the others i would say maybe $3 max? So i pay $2 for labour packaging and everything else is that right?

I know a garlic bread can go as cheap as $2 from woolies or coles maybe even lesser if there is some super special also tastes nicer better sometimes because its "fresher" when you eat it and not dried out by the time you get home or whatever.

Drinks are definitely a rip off like 2-4x more expensive than supermarket counter parts..

Some of the even more expensive pizzas are alright when on special but still definitely paying anger from $4 to $10 more if you just make it yourself.

So i was wondering ozbargain how much do you reckon it costs to make dominos cheapest pizzas? I am a terrible cook but if it will save me hundreds of dollars if not thousands of dollars over my lifetime maybe i should give it a shot and learn to make my own pizza.. I have tasted plenty of home made pizza..some good some bad all different imo compared to fast food.. actually the best pizza i ever had or tasted was in asia from a fast food place i was amazed at how good it was compared to some home grown italian restaurants and otherwise.. Everybody is different i suppose ymmv

TL;DR cheapest pizza in australia / how much to make it?

Related Stores

Domino's
Domino's

Comments

  • +24

    You're asking a few different questions.

    Domino's need to pay labour and overheads not just the direct cost of making a pizza.

    • +17

      They also have to make a profit on the deal. $5 for a meal is pretty cheap. In my view the reason you make your own Pizzas is to cut down on the hidden fat in them, however, it also depends on how much value you put on the time it takes to prepare them.

      • +10

        A couple years ago when i worked there roughly on average to make a pizza if we use the right amount of ingredients which is 80-100 grams of cheese and 40 grams of each ingredient we would average roughly a cost of 2.87 a pizza. Obviously now with rent and things i wouldn't know now.

        To make a pizza i can make one in roughly 8 seconds obviously the more ingredients the more time but even with complex pizzas less than 20 seconds still. And you know what i hate State of origin cos working those nights were cancer

    • +6

      $5 Pizzas are 'click bait'
      They have people order the $5 pizza then go, oh well that was so cheap, why not grab a drink and garlic bread or possibly a dessert.
      Suddenly your $5 pizza is actually ~$8 due to the fact they sold the other stuff to you that they otherwise wouldn't have if the pizza wasn't $5.

      I'd be pretty certain if ALL they sold were $5 pizzas, they wouldn't make enough money to stay in business.

      It's just clever marketing, and if you stick to your guns and only grab the $5 pizza, you probably couldn't make one for much less.
      As soon as you factor in any wastage when stocking up to make pizzas at home, and add electricity for the oven and your time, it looks far less economically attractive… but….

      IMO Dominos pizza is pretty ordinary, making pizzas at home exactly how you want them is a very rewarding exercise!
      Life's too short to worry about a few bucks when it comes to good food IMO

      Save on batteries by buying eneloops, cut your toothpaste tubes open to get the lasts, drive your car economically to save a few bucks instead :)

  • +20

    If it is just for yourself, I don't think you would really save that much money.

    You would have to buy all the different ingredients in bulk and eat pizza for a week or two to get close to $5 per pizza, and they still likely won't taste as good…at least at the beginning.

    You would also potentially get sick of making and eating pizza over and over.

    Edit: Just realised you said you don't even have that many toppings, so it might be easier than I have stated.

    • +6

      Won't taste as good is a wild error.
      Home made pizza dough is the best, I can get a reasonable mix of sauce and cheese and toppings,
      Super cheap and tasty meal if you can spend 20 mins an hour or so before cooking to make the dough.

      • +1

        I meant just for the OP who said they are a "terrible cook" so would probably take a few goes to get it right. Also, they wouldn't have the same amount of fat/oil/salt as Dominos either (which would be healthier, but arguably not as tasty).

        My wife found a recipe using Greek yoghurt in the dough that rapidly cuts prep time…it's not too bad.

      • +3

        With a $5 budget, it's pretty hard to get one pizza (considering a bag of mozzarella cheese comes only in a big bag and already costs $3). Unless you increase the budget to $25 for 5 pizzas, then yea maybe.

        But then that's a lot of pizzas that have to be eaten.

      • I use Lebanese bread for the base, as long as your oven is hot before you put the pizza in then it should be firm when cooked.

      • Teach me how to make home made pizza dough, sensei! I've tried following other instructions online but I always end up with weird bases.

    • +1

      We buy half price Papa Giuseppe's and add salami with mushroom. Tastes amazing. Costs $5, better than Dominos.

  • +19

    Economies of scale dude.
    But so that you know, the $5 deals are killing off franchise owners.

    • +1

      Are they? Are you a franchise owner?

      • +7

        I'm not. I am in finance business and I've met a lot of franchise owners.

      • +3

        google… lots of reports of unhappy franchise owners going to the wall from deals like this!

    • +1

      Yeah I remember smh had an article about that, owners complaining they are forced into selling cheap 5 dollar pizza. Or it could be a marketing ploy to make people think it's ultra cheap ( which it is ) and that it is under cost, making us buy more more more

      • +1

        A lot of operators got screwed over as the sales are there but they just simply cant make proper money when it is $5 for pizza and they have to pay rent, wages, bill and then royalty.

        Franchisor is doing fine because they get royalty based on revenue, not net profit.

        • -3

          Ok. Heard of any Dominos or Pizza Huts franchise closing down as they weren't making enough profits? Never. If at all they have to close down (rarely), it is because of their business inefficiencies.

          PS: I am not referring to Eagle Boys or any other brands.

        • +8

          @virhlpool: Are there even any Pizza Huts left? There used to be heaps of them, they're all gone now, and I'm pretty sure it's not because they were making too much money…

        • +1

          @virhlpool:

          Yes I have. For the many years I worked at pizza hut the SA franchise owners were continually getting some kind of bail out offer from the big wigs in NSW. Many of the stores were trading insolvent

        • -1

          @4agte: Why are the franchise costs insanely high then?

        • @virhlpool:

          Suckers who think they know better.

        • @virhlpool:
          Why how much does it cost to have a pizza store franchise vs others? Price of franchise isn't always an indicator of success.

          In my 5 years at pizza hut they closed down every restaurant Dominoes entered the market and they were receiving interest free loans from head office. Besides a few stores most brought in very little profits

        • -1

          @4agte: It's sad if they can't survive despite below minimum wages in cash and compromising in pizza/ hygiene quality. :(

    • +1

      @djmm: Is that why they hire staff at below minimum wages (cash) and maintain poor hygiene standards in their kitchen?

    • I didn't know.. I don't want to support that but at the same time I still want my lunch for $5 if it's right there in front of me. I'm torn ;_;

  • +1

    My wife who works hospitality industry reckons your average restaurant is doing super well if it makes a 20% to 30% margin, but thinks franchises are different (5% to 10%) so for these $5 pizzas specifically she thinks they probably only make about 50 cents profit per pizza.

    • +1

      I know it is not healthy but for some reason i can justify buying two of these than say buying one take away item at any other restaurant.

      Its weird to think in that way i know but man when money is tight sometimes the lowest hanging fruit is your only option lol.

      • +24

        If health is a concern then fruit should be considered.

        If money is a concern, then low hanging fruit should be considered. Check lane ways for fruit trees.

        • -1

          Check lane ways for fruit trees.

          Any tips, bro? Sydney lanes don't seem to have many fruit trees. I have hardly come across any.

        • @virhlpool: YMMV

        • @virhlpool: You need to get out into the suburbs. Mango trees & monstera deliciosa are quite common.

        • @virhlpool:

          Brisbane has this (I think I came across this originally on ozb somewhere many years ago):
          https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?ll=-27.489566985588716%…

          I did a quick google for Sydney and came up with a couple things, if you look enough I'm sure there will be something similar.

        • @Myrtacaea: Thanks. Where does it say which trees are those though?

        • +1

          @virhlpool:

          With this one you can tell by the colour/icon matching to the side bar down the left (some look very similar to others though) - I'm not sure how up to date the data is.

          Try Fallingfruit.org it looks like a global fruit map that includes Sydney. Looks like you can type in an address and then filter by the nearby fruit/herb/vege available.

    • This is probably spot on.

  • +7

    Make and freeze batches of cheap vege stew and cook rice to go with it. Should be well under $5 per serve and a hell of a lot better for you..

    • +3

      When I was at uni, my main/go to foods were spag bol, popcorn, Mee Goreng. Probably partially to blame for my belly now.

      • +7

        Lol popcorn..

      • +1

        When my wife was in college, she did a few days with watermelon.. Because it was the cheapest thing she could find. It made her terribly sick though, and she never did it again.

      • +2

        Was the popcorn your daily serve of veg? :P

        • +2

          At times my daily serve of anything!

    • -1

      cheap vege stew and cook rice to go with it.

      that doesnt sound like a pizza

  • +8

    I am a terrible cook but if it will save me hundreds of dollars if not thousands of dollars over my lifetime maybe i should give it a shot and learn to make my own pizza

    one bypass surgery could easily cost society (the Australian health system) 200k … don't eat fast food to save money.

  • +2

    it's different if they have everything ordered in bulk.
    My home made pizzas are better than Dominos but they cost more. I think Dominos are worth what they charge, which is fairly low.

  • +2

    Hey I currently work in a pizza store where pizzas vary from $15 to $25, I can tell you that the franchise owner must make a killing. Lives in a big house and everything. I would say dominoes might be making $2 per $5 pizza at max. Making pizzas at home is very fun and great for experimenting, however finding a good mozzarella or cheese mix is quite expensive and is likely to be what makes the overall cost more than dominoes. The best I've used is cheese mix from perfect Italiano.
    -plus he underpays everyone and runs a totally illegal joint, so yeah good life for him crap for everyone else

    • +1

      Damn that sucks dude but yeah the pizza profit margin for "authentic" pizzas are huge.. Like i definiteky know at a minimum i am usually paying 3x more than what it woukd have cost had i done it myself at home etc

      Have you got any secrets for pastas or garlic bread haha lol?

    • I don't suppose your pizza joint is in SE Melbourne by any chance haha

      • Na aha , what this pizza joint called?

    • +4

      The only franchise pizza place that charges $15-25 is Crust.

      Good pizza's but not worth the money IMO. I get a proper wood fired oven pizza for the same price.

  • +3

    aldi 3 pack of cheese pizzas for $6.

    add a few extra toppings + extra cheese. BAM

    • Say what are these like mini pizzas or regular same sized pizzas as dominos?

      • regular size.

        • Where do they hide these? I haven't seen them in my aldi before.

        • @webbiegareth: I bought a few last year but when I went to aldi last week I couldn't see them. They were with the other frozen pizzas. Maybe discontinued?

  • +14

    Are you over the age of 25? If you are then you gotta stop eating junk. It'll ruin you and you'll be paying more money down the road to get back to a healthy state.

  • +4

    I would strongly recommend making your own homemade pizzas. My family startedk this buy buying the frozen base from woolies, then adding toppings. We then created our own pizza base with added toppings. It much, much healthier (we don't gain much weight compared to takeaway pizza). It also tastes much better, fresher, and you can make multiple. $30 of ingredients (flour and such for base, cheese/bacon/capsicum for toppings) should last you a few days if you make a pizza or two per day depending on size, The effort or extra cost depending on how you want it is very much worth it in the long run in terms of health.

    I can barely eat fast food for one day to be honest. It's not filling, tastes terrible compared to homemade food. I genuinely don't know how people can eat it every day. It's not good for you. Plus, making your own food will give you experience for the future if you have kids (homemade food will save you a ton of money as a parent). Not to mention the health of the family.

    Long post I know, but I wanted to explain it as best and briefly as possible.

  • +3

    One thing I've never understood is how everyone on here loves dominos - sure I'll have it when they're free or $2 but when they're $5 etc I'd rather spend a few more $ and get something good

    • +10

      You assume incorrectly. I would rather not eat, than eat Domino's. Pizza has to have taste!

      • +2

        Im glad im not the only one!!

    • +1

      I guess i have really low standards with these things especially food.. Somehow i have rationalized that all ingredients and food products are the same.. No idea why when i hear 99% of people say it is bad for you and tastes crap.. I actually like it more than some more expensive brands for some reason.. Maybe force of habit? I like pork rolls too

      • +2

        Maybe force of habit?

        Yes, it's partly what you are used to/have been raised on. A close friend of my wife married a chef and once he cooked her baked beans from scratch. She hated it saying it didn't taste anything like the canned Heinz ones…that is all she was used to. He was suitably offended and obviously didn't bother again and let her eat her canned baked beans from then on.

      • There is cheap, Australian made or imported supermarket 'mozzarella'. It does not compare to a good Italian buffalo mozzarella. Every topping on pizzas has a high and low equivalent. Compare a good San Mazarno tomato to a tasteless, water-logged Coles job, or prawns dredged from the bottom of some polluted bay in SE Asia compared with some fresh Australian Tigers or Kings.

        Get what you pay for.

        • I think i just need some recommendations for some actually good pizza so i can compare.. Something preferably less than $20 a slice.

        • @AlienC: What city are you in? Plenty of good recommendations for Melbourne…

        • @DrC: Sydney Blue Mountains but i don't mind travelling around Sydney.. I hear so many good things about Melbourne..like a mini San Francisco or LA / NYC at times

    • +1

      Buy the vegeterian pizzas..They have plenty of flavour..can change the toppings to suit you more ..even add meat if you cant live without it( a little experimenting helps) I add feta cheese and remove one of the other items to keep the price low, using a coupon I get a mean tasting pizza for about $7-8 daily or less if super special offer available

    • +1

      Dominos is greasy crap, always has been and I own/run a take away food business.

      • I sometimes pay extra for that greasy crap.. Oh man when i have been eating good for months and finaly have that bad unhealthy guilty pleasure food.. Goddamn.. Feelsgoodandbadman because obesity..

    • But to get anything else you're looking at atleast twice that price. You get a lot of food for the price you pay at Dominos, and to be honest their chicken kickers are better than kfc/redr/mcd nuggets and chips too. That being said, I whipped out the credit card a couple months ago to give Pizza Capers a try and it tasted amazing with all the variety of ingredients they have, but not worth 3 times the price when you're just hungry, I'd expect wood fired for a $20 minimum pizza.

      • Yeah legit woodfired pizza just taste so bomb compared to dominos and other cheap budgetier franchises.. You kind of feel guilty haha lol taking each bite like eating luxury premium ice cream compared to the cheap but still good stuff

  • +2

    In Singapore they have a skinny pizza, which is an ultra thin crisp crust. Very thin. I've made a similar one using the square mountain bread wrap products as a base. You obviously don't load it up as much as you would a thicker base, but it can be very yummy.

    http://www.skinnypizza.com.sg/

    I've never used a recipe, but I googled mountain bread pizza recipes for you. 😀

    https://www.google.com.au/search?q=mountain+bread+pizza&rlz=…

  • +5

    Some crazy comments here.
    Pizza was invented in Italy to use up left over bits and pieces, so 50g of ham or a left over sausage, a mushroom, half an onion, that little bit of capsicum going soft in the fridge all become perfect pizza toppings for almost $0 if they would otherwise end up in the bin.
    Kneading and rolling out a pizza base uses about 15c of flour.
    Mozzarella is costly at about $12/kg, but you can substitute whatever cheese is on special, or if you are cooking for a crowd, make your own mozzarella from $2 milk and you will have a much superior product. (you need rennet, try the home brew shop).
    This recipe makes it look way more complex than it is, but covers everything:
    http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/10/how-to-make-fresh…

    When we were young and broke we used to make pizza toast under the griller using just sliced bread as the base. Certainly we would have eaten for under $1.50 for two.

    • Yep, but the OP comes across as some who has an empty fridge… There would be no leftovers to take advantage of!

      • +4

        Fair enough. It probably does cost a few dollars to get started, but if you at a level where you don't have cheese…

        Cheapo recipe, makes 10 pizzas:
        - 2kg generic flour - $1.85
        - 1 jar generic tomato paste- $1.50
        - 2 onions - 80c
        - 500g ham - $8 max (substitute a bbq chicken, sausage, cabanossi etc.)
        - 1 capsicum - $1
        - 1kg mozzarella $12

        = $2.51/pizza
        Substitute home grated $6kg block cheese and better value protein/leftovers and you hit under $2ea

        • +4

          two main ingredients are missing, energy and time.

        • +3

          @boomramada:
          I don't disagree. Making your own pizza dough takes 15mins or so an hour before cooking, and means some extra clean up.
          It tastes considerably better, so is worth it for my family where we make several pizzas at once.
          If you live your life by what takes the least energy and time you can play xbox all day and get doritos delivered from Woolies online, but there are other considerations.

        • @mskeggs:
          I bet you make a best pizza in town but you need to oven it for 20min? how much the energy cost?
          You spend 10-15min prepare (not in the OP case but I usually buy fast food for convenient not for price, ie someone working behalf of you while you playing PS3 or working) minimum wage 17.70 per hour.)?

        • +2

          @boomramada:
          My oven is 2500w, costs less than 62c per hour to run.
          I don't have to go out to collect a Domino's, or pay the delivery charge. Swings and roundabouts.

          If value isn't an object I could hire Nigella Lawson to come and make it for me, but I guess the point I am making is you can make a superior product cheaper than bought, but yes, it will take some time and effort.

          This isn't an example where the diy option is inferior or more costly.

        • +1

          @mskeggs:
          If Nigella Lawson in your place, don't forget to invite me pls :)

        • +1

          What about

          labour to make dough?

          Cut up items etc?

          Making the pizza?

          Rent?

          Pizza oven running costs?

          EFTPOS surcharge?

          Pizza boxes?

          The list goes on…..

        • I would add a heap of other veges on there to make it taste even better. Not enough veges imo

        • A dough made only from flour and a sauce made only from tomato paste? Sounds delicious!

      • Yeah haha right now my fridge has a bunch of random non usable shit.. Bread butter water random sauces some drinks a cabbage black olives strawberry jam sour cream yoghurt tofu carrots brocoli

  • +1

    Perhaps the $5 pizzas are like loss-leading products in order to get people to look at the more expensive pizzas and eventually move up. I know myself that the cheap $5 pizzas can get a bit tired to eat after a while and I start looking at the more expensive ones to have something else.

    But by this time I usually revert back to my local independent pizza shop with their $9 pizzas which are beautiful.

    • +1

      I think this is correct. Note the deal is only for pick up which means they want you to buy more stuff when you're in the restaurant: Drinks, desserts, garlic breads, whatever else they sell. Aim is to get people into the shop!

  • +2

    I've actually asked Don Meij whether they were actually making money and he said that they are.

    At the end of the day, as stated earlier its economies of scale, its impossible to determine the cost of making a pizza unless its over a given period of time. If its the middle of the day and they're only making 10 pizzas an hour and they're all value range you can assume that they're running at a loss. But when its peak hour and they're making 120 pizzas an hour and they're all value range they're definitely making money. They can afford to sell it at that price point due to the high demand for their products, its essentially why regular pizza stores cant sell at that price point, because most of them aren't that busy. Also, anyone over the age of 25 would generally say that the value range pizzas at dominos suck, so I believe it'd be a small portion of pizzas that are actually value range pizzas. If they can afford to sell that pizza at $5 you could imagine how much money they're making on a $9.95 margarita during peak hour.

    • Someone asked him this at a talk he gave and he dodged the question, got all serious and said that they make the profit on the extras such as garlic bread and coke. It was hard to believe at the time but since then I have first hand seen friends/relatives wasting money on the extras

      • I can believe this. Every time I go to pay for petrol at a servo there's usually always someone in front of or behind me who are buying some general snack food or groceries at the ridiculous prices servos charge.

  • +2

    In my teens (15 years ago or so) I applied for a job at dominoes and the manager in my interview told me it cost them $2.50 per pizza to make, including materials, labor and the pizza box.. throw on a bit of inflation and I would imagine it's currently somewhere between the $2.80 and $3.00 mark

    • Probably a lot more than $3 now. There were a few years in the past 15 where the official inflation rate was over 3%, and that's the supressed headline rate released by the RBA. Also remember that it compounds. Items such as rent (a huge cost for business) are not included in inflation figures. If it was we would be looking at over 10% inflation in many years. Can't have that. So the figures are cooked.

      $5 per pizza is pretty much the 'race to the bottom' price. It's like paying $1 per retail litre of milk. The farmer is breaking even, at best.

  • +1

    You can may be able to make the pizza for less than $5 worth of ingredients if you really try, but once you factor in your time, you just can't beat this purely in financial terms.

  • its not really a fair comparison to make anyway, the cost of ingredients for a dominos pizza, especially the super simple ones would be practically 0 at the scale they buy at they are also manufactured to last longer then anything you'll get from the supermarket.

    that said i buy a 6 pack of supermarket brand muffins for $3 and then "a handful" each of diced bacon and shredded ham, half a stick of cabana which are maybe $2 each (woolworths only because coles wont break the sticks), its more then then enough for 4 muffins worth (8 halves) of well stacked pizzas, you even have 2 full muffins left over for an actual breakfast.

    of course i also put cheese, pizza sauce and some chilli flakes on there but cheese i buy anyway and the other 2 things you buy occasionally. could be made even cheaper by buying in larger quantities and freezing it but at some point flavour > cost (sorry ozb)

  • Have you tried Aldi $3 frozen pizzas?

    • ALDI $3 pizzas are actually pretty decent, although not as cheap as Woolworths' $2.70 offerings (minus 5% eGift). The key difference is the frozen pizzas are made on an automated production line with very little human intervention, unlike your local pizza place where ingredients are added by hand before hand loading and packaging the pizza.

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