Dive Brief:
- Domino’s Pizza’s Malaysia and Singapore division has partnered with SingularityNET to deploy Artificial Intelligence services across its network as it looks to scale up its business in the region.
- According to Yahoo Finance, SingularityNET will conduct feasibility studies, host AI workshops and create algorithms to impact Domino’s business operations, such as supply chain and logistics.
- Domino’s division CEO Ba U Shan-Ting said the partnership and its blockchain technology will allow his company to gain efficiencies by automating delivery operations and consolidating operations centers.
Dive Insight:
A few larger companies like Walmart have implemented blockchain technology, but Domino’s appears to be one of, if not the first to test a blockchain-based AI solution. What that means is that the pizza company should be better able to deploy AI services, such as automation and supply chain efficiencies, at scale. As publication Coin Rivet points out, Domino’s should also be able to solve many of its biggest logistical challenges with this partnership.
It’s no surprise that Domino’s is ahead of the curve on this technology. The company has gained a competitive edge over its pizza rivals by being a “tech company that sells pizzas.”
Still, though this may be a first, it certainly won’t be the last. Blockchain technology on its own is expected to have a major impact on the the supply chain, making our food safer by offering traceability data of a food product’s journey, from harvesting to processing to distribution. That’s a big deal when considering a single food-borne illness outbreak can cost a restaurant nearly $2 million.
Of course, there are some who question just how big blockchain will actually be in the restaurant industry. Chanticleer Holdings uses the technology to integrate its loyalty programs across all of its brands, but Subway doesn’t see it as a good fit for traceability right now because of a data validation issue, slow processing times and interoperability issues.
Where Domino’s may have an advantage is with the AI piece. As SingularityNET CEO Ben Goertzel said in the announcement, every company is going to need to embrace AI to succeed and flourish. Indeed, AI has become quite ubiquitous in the restaurant space, from enabling self-ordering kiosks to powering McDonald’s new menu boards to making pizzas.
Domino’s global growth plans are ambitious. The company projects $25 billion in annual sales globally by 2025 — twice its sales of $12.25 billion two years ago. If the SingularityNET partnership does help the company scale efficiently in the Malaysia and Singapore markets, Domino’s could very well seek out similar partnerships in other markets to do the same thing.
