On Dec. 29, Domino’s Pizza opened a location in Middlebury at 40 Court Street. The Campus reported in a Jan. 15 article that Domino’s offered a more cost-effective option than other local pizza shops such as Nino’s and Green Peppers.
Domino’s is now one of three chain fast-food establishments in town, alongside McDonald’s and Dunkin’. It is also the only fast-food restaurant in Middlebury that offers delivery — a feature that has quickly reshaped late-night dining habits on campus.
Since Domino’s opened, Middlebury Dining’s retail operations — particularly The Grille — have seen a noticeable shift in sales patterns, prompting informal discussions about introducing an internal delivery service that would allow students to order food from The Grille directly to their dorms.
“Our sales have been down at night, but retail is still as successful as last year,” Assistant Director of Retail Operations Justin Edson said in an interview with the Campus. “We’re still happy, we’re just seeing the shift of when people are coming in. We're keeping up with last year's sales, we’re just seeing a shift from nights to days. As soon as Domino’s opened, we saw a large dip in [evening] sales. There’s no denying it, it’s happening.”
According to Edson, the Grille’s pizza sales decreased by 53% last week compared to that same week last year.
Staff have also noticed changes in demand.
“My staff has mentioned that in the past, they would be making two or three of each flavors of pizza a night. Lately, we’ve been doing one of our daily specials, and then a half-and-half cheese-pepperoni pizza,” Lauren Poppenga, The Grille’s evening manager, said in an interview with The Campus.
Poppenga added that the decline in traffic has led to operational adjustments.
“We’ve definitely seen a drop in sales to the point where we’ve had to cut staff, which is unfortunate, because a lot of our staff are students that rely on jobs on campus,” Poppenga said. “We’ve also cut menu items like our stir fry and our buffalo chicken egg rolls because people haven’t been coming in to order them.”
To respond to the increased competition, retail operations are considering changes.
“We have talked about bringing back some sort of delivery service for The Grille,” Poppenga said. “Nothing is certain yet, though.”
Domino’s delivery service has been particularly appealing during the winter, given the cold weather.
“I like Domino’s because of the convenience. In this cold, the delivery is great. I’ve never picked up my order, I always get it delivered,” Sarah LaFond ’27 said.
Edson said the timing of Domino’s arrival amplified its impact.
“This is one of the coldest winters we’ve had in like 15 years,” Edson said. “Delivery is a great option. So what we’re looking at is figuring out how we can compete with that. We’re not promising anything, but we’re talking about how to accommodate more locality on campus for folks.”
“I think it’s great that students have access to something like Domino’s that is open late. I just wish there were more local opportunities being taken advantage of, particularly here at The Grille,” Poppenga added. “But right now, we’re toying with the idea of doing late-night desserts.”
Middlebury Dining emphasizes its commitment to local sourcing and in-house preparation. According to the Middlebury Dining website, 32% of the annual food budget is spent locally on vegetable farms, dairies, maple syrup producers, cheese cooperatives, fair trade coffee roasters, organic soy growers and grass-fed cattle raisers.
“A large percentage of our products on campus in general and here at The Grille are local,” Poppenga said. “We are utilizing local beef, local eggs and local dairy. In the summer, we utilize the Knoll and also local farmers. We make all of our own sauces. It’s not coming out of a factory.”
“Here at The Grille […] we strive to make everything fresh,” Edson added. “We’ve always used the best products we can find. All our chicken and beef is high-quality meat. It’s hard to compete with Domino’s, especially since it’s two different products. We are all about serving the students. We try to serve the best we can.”
“We are the only facility on campus that makes our own pizza dough from scratch. It’s something that one of our employees, Jeff, has been very proud of. He’s worked really hard on the recipes for over a year, trying to nail them down for these pizzas, and it’s been hard to compete with Domino’s,” Poppenga said.
The Domino’s website provides some information on the sourcing of their food: “We rely on farmers, suppliers and processors, as well as our supply chain division, in our mission to provide the highest quality and safest food possible.” According to the website, Domino’s offers 34 million different combinations available when ordering one pizza. The Grille, instead, relies on a menu of specials prepared by staff every month, ranging from buffalo chicken pizzas and cheeseburger pizzas to vegetarian options.
