It looks like a Domino’s customer may be a victim of ‘shrinkflation,’ or a restaurant manager who is a bit on the cheap side when it comes to toppings.
TikToker KJ (@katanaa.jade) uploaded a TikTok showing off what appears to be a barbecue chicken pizza pie. In the video, she calls out Domino’s for the glaring lack of chicken on the item—judging from what is shown in the 13-second clip, it looks like there is about only one piece of chicken on each slice of the pie.
@katanaa.jade Its like they perfectly placed each piece of chicken on my pizza 😤 #dominospizza #dominosvspizzahut #fyp #viral ♬ original sound – KJ 🌸
KJ says in the clip, “I’m not gonna front Domino’s, one piece of chicken on each slice of pizza is crazy. And I’ll be coming to y’all because I like how y’all do the little barbecue sauce with the garlic on the crust, like I like how it tastes.”
She says that in spite of her favorable opinion of the chain’s offerings and general approval of Domino’s, she was ultimately let down by the delivery and said that she believes a viral chain would probably give her more bang for her buck.
“But I ain’t gonna front I don’t even got mad cheese on my pizza like this is unacceptable I’m about to go to Pizza Hut,” she says.
One user suggested she should call and complain about the quality of her pizza, stating that if she did, the chain would give her a pie on the house. “Call them they’ll give u a free pizza,” they shared.
Someone else seemed to think that the aesthetics of the pizza pie made it look less than appealing, writing, “What flavor is this blackened chicken pizzen it’s more blacken then anything.”
It seems KJ isn’t the only person on social media who’s complained about the amount of food that they’re getting from the chain. In January 2023, a Reddit user uploaded a picture of a minuscule-looking Domino’s pie to the site’s r/shrinkflation sub, a section of the social media network dedicated to documenting the mitigation of portions/values of popular products over time.
They asked other users if they thought that the pizzas looked smaller than they used to, and while there were varying responses, some thought that the pie looked like a small placed in a large back, and one user thought that it could be entirely possible Domino’s has been scaling back some of their offerings.
“There is a good chance the company reduced the dough weight over time. That’s shrinkflation,” they wrote.
However, they said that when it comes to pizza dough, there are a lot of variables that could affect the size of the pie.
“But the size/thickness has waaaayy too many variables to how the finished product turns out. Was it fresh dough? Cold dough is hard to stretch to size and shrinks easily. Inexperienced dough slapper? Didn’t make it to size. Or had to trim off some due to a mistake. Sometimes the pizza topper will be rough with how they handle the pizza or set it on the converter oven,” they said.
If you’re worried about getting the most bang for your buck when it comes to toppings, Mashed suggests that getting no more than four toppings per pie is the way to go as Domino’s pizzas become inundated with too many ingredients otherwise.
So, in order to compensate, Domino’s will put fewer toppings on each selection, otherwise, it would become an unwieldy, sloppy mess, and who the heck wants to eat pizza with a fork and a knife?
Domino’s isn’t the only food company that’s been called out for shrinkflation, i.e. companies charging customers more money but ultimately giving them less for their dollar. McDonald’s, Chipotle, Wendy’s, and others have also seen their fair share of criticism when it comes to portion sizes as well.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Domino’s via email and KJ via email.
