Despite being criticised for overhyping its new Chef’s Best range, figures released by Domino’s suggest it has been well received by customers. 

In the week following the launch of the new range, the company said sales were much higher than usual for a new product launch.

Figures uncovered that the Chef’s Best range accounted for 25.22 percent, or just over one quarter of total sales in the week commencing 11 March.

Don Meij, CEO, Domino’s said the new range will alter people’s perceptions of value when it comes to quality pizza, reports InsideRetail.

“The Chef’s Best range offers restaurant-quality pizzas from as little as $8, a price-point that sits in the middle of our range.

“It is a dollar less than our Traditional range of pizzas. This is a level of value that has never been seen before in our industry,” he said.

Soon after the initial launch many Australians took to social media to express their disappointment at the range, which Domino’s had marketed as a “game changer.”

In the days leading up to the launch the company closed all of its stores for one hour to conduct specialised training, and on 7 March it uploaded an image of Meij to it’s Facebook page.

The image was accompanied by text that read “Get ready for out biggest announcement in 20 years,” and “you’ve demanded change and we’ve pushed ourselves to respond.”

Meij was quick to defend the range, and he urges people to try it for themselves before passing judgement.

“We appreciate some people felt the new range wasn’t the game changer they had been hoping for, however, we have been reassured by the positive feedback of those customers trying the new range firsthand. 

“Customers have reacted enthusiastically to the initiative and that is what we are urging everyone to give it a try, this is not just a change of toppings,” he said.