The Most Popular Pizza Chain Isn’t Pizza Hut

It’s time to set the record straight. To remind the people of the truth. For far too long, Pizza Hut has held the expectation of the people that they were the most popular pizza chain in all the land. Ahh, my naive friend. They truly wish that was the case. No, in fact the real champion also happens to be my personal fave, so I take this quite seriously! The most popular pizza chain is actually none other than Domino’s, baby!

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The Proof Is In The Pudding

Well, it’s actually in the numbers. According to Domino’s July 2026 earnings report, they’re on a roll. They had global retail sales growth of 3.0% and a global net store growth of 209 stores, including 26 net store openings in the U.S. and 183 net store openings internationally. Their competitors didn’t have as much luck. In the first quarter of their fiscal years, Pizza Hut recorded a 16% drop in operating profit and Papa John’s faced a loss in total revenue of $39.7 million.

Domino’s has been putting a lot of work into expanding and it’s really paying off. To open 183 stores outside of your home market is such an incredible feat. To compare that to another pizza chain, Papa John’s actually closed more stores than it opened at the beginning of this year, which resulted in a net loss of 63 locations worldwide. 

Where Does Their Success Come From?

It’ll always be hard to truly attribute the success of Domino’s to a specific factor. My personal bias says that it’s because it’s the best pizza chain on the market. That buttery garlic crust is hard to beat. The company’s CEO, Russel Weiner, has another (more calculated) guess. He gives a lot of credit to order count growth. In other words, how many carryout and delivery orders they have each night. The more new customers you have, the more returning customers you can get.

In the same vein, the Domino’s Rewards program also got some credit. If you’re constantly getting pinged to order more and thus earn rewards to then return to the store once more, you’re driving more action to the store. It’s an easy train of thought to follow. While it may not last forever, you can’t argue against the reality that Domino’s is really crushing it as it stands now. I personally love to see it get the respect it deserves.