News

Domino's doubles down on tech innovation with new 'Garage'

August 20, 2019

Domino's has given its innovation efforts a home in the brand's new Ann Arbor-based Innovation Garage at Domino's Farms. The 33,000-square-foot facility celebrates its grand opening tomorrow and will serve as a space where the brand's teams can collaborate on, create and test new ideas, particularly those related to how the global brand implements technology. 

"Domino's Innovation Garage is focused on accelerating Domino's spirit of creativity and collaboration," Domino's Chief Technology Officer Kelly Garcia, said in a news release about the facility. "As a pizza company with a focus on technology, we want our team members to have a workspace that encourages experimentation and fosters an environment to take risks, test innovations and fail-fast so they can bring their best cutting-edge ideas to life for the brand's customers and stores."

The open-concept two-story structure can accommodate 150 people and includes collaboration workspaces, private meeting rooms and a fully functioning next-generation pizza theater where tech like ordering kiosks and carryout trackers can be developed and tested within a store setting.  

The garage also includes dedicated space for testing delivery initiatives like the GPS delivery tracking experience, the customer interface on autonomous pizza delivery vehicles and robots like Nuro's R2 unmanned pizza delivery being tested later this year, the company said. 

The facility will hold all of Domino's current AnyWare ordering technology, in-store technology and a quality assurance lab for testing prototypes.

"Having a hub for our community of smart, creative and dynamic team members to develop our brand and take it to the next level is important for our continued success," Garcia said. "We're proud to now have a space dedicated to learning, exploring, testing and launching new ideas in a way that only Domino's can do."

Photos: Provided.