Dodo Pizza is the fastest-growing pizza chain in the world

On April 23, 2011, the first Dodo Pizza opened in the small northern city of Syktyvkar, operating out of a 68 m² basement space. At first, it operated solely as a delivery service from the windowless basement. Over time, the team managed to rent the adjacent space and open a restaurant. By July, in its third month of operation, the pizzeria had become profitable.

We began by developing a module for taking customer orders over the phone. It was this interface that served as the starting point for the development of the entire system in the future.

In 2013, Dodo Pizza began recruiting franchisees. The selection criteria were strict: the company wasn’t interested in opening as many branches as possible, but wanted to maintain consistent quality across all of them.

In September 2013, Dodo’s first Quality Control Center began operations. It combined a dough production and ingredient preparation facility, a warehouse, a distribution center, and a laboratory. The production facility handled the preparation of dough batches — dough was prepared in advance for quick rolling out at the city’s pizzerias.

In 2014, the franchise program had only just gotten off the ground. But despite the founder’s doubts, the enthusiastic entrepreneur Sergiu Bolocan completed his training in Syktyvkar and, a few months later, opened the first pizzeria in Brașov.

Until then, there had been no consistent design for the Dodo bird. But thanks to the efforts of the design team, the bird we know today was created—and it’s now traveling all over the world.

By the time of our anniversary, our chain had 763 restaurants in 15 countries around the world and was named the fastest-growing pizza chain by Technomic magazine.

Dodo Pizza has implemented an ingredient consumption forecasting system based on Microsoft Azure Machine Learning. The team developed a system that takes into account various trends and factors — such as increased demand in the spring, holidays, promotions, and events — and predicts which supplies need to be restocked, when, and in what quantities.

The Dodo Pizza team has adapted its app for the blind and visually impaired — a first in the Russian retail market. The app now supports Voice Reader, a built-in iOS feature that reads text aloud from the screen.

In Lagos, one of Nigeria’s largest cities, the first pizza restaurant housed in a shipping container has opened. The pizza is prepared and sold not in a standard restaurant, but in a large shipping container that is fully equipped for making pizza.

This fall, two pizzerias opened in Turkey — one in Antalya and one in Mersin. The team adapted the menu to suit local tastes; for example, they introduced a sesame-crusted pizza and a pizza topped with sujuk.

In January 2023, the first pizzeria in Dubai opened in the Marina. Dodo Pizza opened in the same building as Drinkit — it is the first coffee shop and pizzeria. To enter the UAE market, the team launched an app in Arabic and localized its advertising materials and icons.

The reusable box is one of Dodo Pizza’s eco-friendly initiatives. Delivery drivers bring the pizza in plastic boxes; customers transfer the pizza to their own dishes and return the box to the driver. At the pizzerias, the eco-boxes are washed in dishwashers and reused. The project was launched in the UAE and Slovenia.

Dodo has started making pizzas based on ChatGPT recipes. The dishes created by the AI were featured by a chain pizzeria in Dubai. Among the favorites is a pizza topped with tahini sauce and za’atar. Our pizza was even featured in a CNN report.

The Kids' Pizza Academy is a welcoming space that offers pizza-making workshops for children. The first location opened in Antalya. During its first five months of operation, 1,200 young pizza makers participated in the workshops.

On October 18, 2024, Dodo Brands' total annual revenue exceeded $ 1 billion.

A special report and ranking of the most promising players in the pizza market — 100 brands and companies that are setting the direction and driving the industry forward by experimenting with technology, operations, and products. For three years in a row, we have been in the top 10 of this ranking: 2024 — 9th place, 2025 — 8th place.