Domino's Launches Pizza with a Breaded Chicken Crust

As of today, Domino's is now serving a pizza on a chicken base with the ambiguous name Specialty Chicken. According to the press release below, the pizza-like creation swaps a dough-based crust in favor of "12 bites of lightly breaded, 100 percent whole breast white meat chicken" which are topped like a pizza with sauces, cheeses, vegetables, and meats. The Specialty Chicken will be offered in four flavors at launch: Crispy Bacon & Tomato, Spicy Jalapeno-Pineapple, Classic Hot Buffalo, and Sweet BBQ Bacon.

The press release also states that Specialty Chicken is the "first new product for Domino's" since September 2012. In the ad for the dish below, a Domino's "Chicken Chef" proclaims, "If we gave up after every mistake, we wouldn't come up with something new like our Specialty Chicken."

The move appears to be another avenue for Domino's to push its chicken items. USA Today notes that "sales of boneless chicken, in particular, are up 11% over the past three years," adding that "even before the new roll-out" Domino's "sells more chicken than anything else besides pizza." (Back in 2012 Domino's even removed the word "pizza" from its logo.)

The Specialty Chicken debut also follows several other attempts by Domino's to jumpstart their image and sales. They've explored pizza drone technology, trendy open kitchens, and live cams of their pizzas cooking. Piling pizza ingredients on top of chicken doesn't totally comport with Domino's push to portray its pizzas as made by hand by "pizza artists."

Novelty pizzas are nothing new, however. Pizza Hut, as previously reported, offers crusts embedded with mini cheeseburgers in the Middle East, and as French website Fast and Food notes, spicy hot dog-stuffed crust pies in New Zealand. Pizza Hut has also explored making pizzas atop cheese "pockets." The Domino's pizza-meets-loaded chicken nuggets creation is available nationwide. Go, watch:

Video: Domino's Ad for Specialty Chicken

Domino's Pizza® Introduces Specialty Chicken

'Failure is an option' in campaign promoting first new menu item since Handmade Pan Pizza

ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- While it is the recognized world leader in pizza delivery, Domino's Pizza (NYSE: DPZ) continues to show it is a legitimate player in the chicken business – and beginning today, launches its new Specialty Chicken, the latest innovation to an expanding menu. Domino's will celebrate by giving away 25,000 orders of Specialty Chicken to select Facebook fans who enter on Domino's Facebook brand page for a chance to win by day's end.

The boneless chicken product features a delicious combination of toppings, sauces and cheeses layered over 12 bites of lightly breaded, 100 percent whole breast white meat chicken. The four unique flavors offered include Crispy Bacon & Tomato, Spicy Jalapeno-Pineapple, Classic Hot Buffalo and Sweet BBQ Bacon.

"Our new Specialty Chicken is one of the most creative, innovative menu items we have ever had," said Russell Weiner, Domino's Pizza chief marketing officer. "Our pizza chefs have taken chicken to a whole new level, using our unique ingredients to create these four bold flavors. There's nothing quite like Domino's Specialty Chicken on the market today."

A national TV campaign beginning on April 21 focuses on not being afraid to take risks – something Domino's has certainly not been fearful of in recent history – and how some turn out better than others.

"We are proud to be known as a pizza company, but Specialty Chicken shows we are not afraid to step out of our comfort zone and take risks – something that is truly part of our brand fabric," said Weiner. "Not every risk we have taken has turned out to be successful, but as a brand we have learned that sometimes you have to fail in order to be great."

Specialty Chicken is the first new product for Domino's since the launch of Handmade Pan Pizza in September 2012 and will be available as part of its $5.99 mix and match deal.

"Including Specialty Chicken as part of our $5.99 value deal offers customers a great opportunity to try one of the four flavors, along with the choice of one of our other menu favorites – and we can't wait to hear what everyone thinks," said Weiner.

· Domino's adds chicken dish with toppings [USA Today]
· Domino's Pizza® Introduces Specialty Chicken [Domino's]
· All Stunt Foods Coverage on Eater [-E-]