The Domino's Pizza master franchisee for Mainland China opened 90 new stores in the first 24 days of January, bringing its total store count to 1,405, the same as its ticker number



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<h4>Key Takeaways:</h4>



<ul>
<li>DPC Dash opened 307 stores last year, raising its total to 1,315 at the end of December and reaching its annual target of 300 new stores</li>



<li>The Domino's master franchisee for Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao is increasingly seeking the right balance between expansion and profitability</li>
</ul>



A winding down and then a big bang to start the New Year. That sums up the story for DPC Dash Ltd. (1405.HK) over the last two or three months, as the company launched 90 new stores in the first 24 days of January after focusing on entering new cities in the fourth quarter.



The bigger picture for DPC Dash seems to be one of a company seeking the right balance between aggressive expansion and maintaining its operational efficiency. Rapid expansion was popular among restaurant operators in China for years, but many are now shifting to a more careful approach as Chinese consumers grow more value oriented in the current slowing economy.



Its evolving approach has served DPC well, allowing it to post same-store sales growth in 2024, even when many of its rivals were stumbling as a post-pandemic rebound gave way to growing consumer caution. DPC briefly fell into negative territory with a 1% same-store sales decline in the first half of last year, due partly to a high base effect in new markets it entered. Still, the company has maintained positive same-store sales growth in Tier 1 cities for eight consecutive years since 2017, according to its fourth quarter 2025 investor factsheet released on Jan. 9.



That announcement showed that DPC opened a net 307 new stores last year, boosting its footprint by 30% to 1,315 stores across China. That put it over the line for its full-year target of opening 300 stores. The burst of 90 new openings reported in another press release on Jan. 26, including 62 new stores on Jan. 1 alone, showed the company wants to get off to a strong start to 2026.



DPC's collaboration with Domino's dates back as early as 2010, and it became the U.S. giant's master franchisee for Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao in 2017. It started by building up its network in the top-tier cities of Beijing in Shanghai, where pizza is firmly established and it relies heavily on a delivery-focused model used by its parent. But the company has been putting more of its expansion focus over the last three years on smaller cities, which it calls &#34;non-tier one new growth markets&#34; in its reports.



Such markets have proven fertile ground not only for DPC but also its peers, since pizza is often considered unusual and even exotic there and often draws big crowds when new stores open. Reflecting that, Domino's Pizza China is home to 49 of the 50 best-performing new stores in their first 30 days among Domino's global network of more than 21,500 stores at the end of last year's third quarter.



Most of those top performers are in non-tier-one markets, including the company's first store in the Northeastern city of Dalian, which generated close to 700,000 yuan, or around $100,000, on its first day during last year's fourth quarter – a record for DPC.



<h4>Growing footprint</h4>



DPC's strategic efforts moved toward new city penetration in the fourth quarter, as it shifted from simply expanding its store count to boosting its geographic footprint. After entering 12 new cities in the first nine months of last year, the company moved into nine new markets in the fourth quarter, putting it into 60 cities across China. Its burst of new openings in January further raised that to 72 cities as of Jan. 26.



Its rapid expansion over the last few years has vaulted DPC to China's second-largest pizza chain with about 10% of the market, behind only industry leader Pizza Hut. DPC's 1,405 stores after the burst of new openings in January – which it pointed out was the same as its ticker symbol – was about one-third the size of Pizza Hut's 4,022 China stores at the end of last September.



The pair and others are all feasting on a Chinese pizza market expected to grow 15.5% annually between 2022 and 2027 to reach 77.1 billion yuan ($11.1 billion) in annual sales by the end of that period, according to market research firm Frost &amp; Sullivan.



DPC has been one of the fastest-growing chains among its peers, translating to similarly rapid revenue growth. The company's revenue rose 27% year-on-year to 2.59 billion yuan in the first half of last year. It also relies heavily on its loyalty program, whose membership rose 45% to 35.6 million at the end of last year from 24.5 million at the end of 2024. The company is expected to report full-year financial results for 2025 in March.



Investors are generally upbeat on DPC, giving the company a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 30, well ahead of the 17 for Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) (9987.HK), operator of the Pizza Hut chain in China. The ratio also leads the 21 for its parent, Domino's Pizza (NASDAQ:DPZ) and 23 for Yum Brands (NYSE:YUM), global owner of the Pizza Hut brand.



Reflecting that status, DPC currently counts Capital Group Cos., owner of a major emerging markets fund, among its top institutional investors with nearly 7% of its stock. Other major institutional shareholders include Vanguard and BlackRock's iShares.



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Benzinga Disclaimer: This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga’s reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.

01405

DPC Dash Ltd., the Domino's Pizza master franchisee for Mainland China, opened 90 new stores in January, increasing its total to 1,405. The company aims to balance aggressive expansion with profitability, having opened 307 stores in 2025, surpassing its target of 300. DPC has maintained positive same-store sales growth in Tier 1 cities for eight consecutive years. Its strategic focus has shifted to smaller cities, contributing to its rapid growth, making it China's second-largest pizza chain with a market share of about 10%. The Chinese pizza market is projected to grow significantly in the coming years.

DPC Dash Begins 2026 With A Bang