Pizza. The best fast food there is.

Fresh out of the brick oven or cold the next day.

I have strong memories of pizza birthday parties as a kid, and of late-night delivery orders in college to help with all-night study sessions. Perhaps my fondest pizza memory is from backroom pizza in ann arbor, mi – waiting in line on a cold winter night after a quality night partying.

Flash forward 12 years later to Tel Aviv, and my preference is for thin roman style pizza joints, where the crust is nearly cracker-thin. One night my incredibly smart husband suggests we order Domino’s pizza. No way, I say. I remember Domino’s pizza from my youth. More often than not, late-night urgent delivery orders were to Domino’s. It was doughy, chewy, too salty and more often than not barely edible. But it was the only option and we grudgingly accepted it. But I was convinced to give it a try again. And how convenient, I found an app for it, too. Next thing I know, I’m downloading the Domino’s app to my iPhone and within a few simple clicks, we’ve ordered pizza. 20 minutes later, it arrives at my door, piping hot, absolutely delicious.

Hot damn, I’m an instant convert.

So why am I talking about Domino’s here?

Because it’s a great story about a brand that does a 180. Domino’s won me over twofold. First, they changed their pizza recipe from the crust up to deliver a tasty, non-greasy, flavorful and not too doughy slice. And secondly, they made a killer app that complements their awesome delivery service. It’s easy to use, intuitive and gives a phenomenal step by step build for your custom pizza.

It goes something like this:

1. Select your crust from 5 options
2. Choose your toppings
3. Click through to order additional items and drinks
4. Pay, ka-ching.
5. Get a “tracker” where you watch your order go through delivery stages

Boom. An SMS announces that the delivery guy is on his way and 10 minutes later a knock on the door.

Sure, there are lots of apps out there now that do the same thing but a year or two ago, this was revolutionary. It’s without fail the fastest and easiest-to-use to food-order app I’ve ever used. That means when we’re hungry and need a quick fix, its the go-to delivery order. Forget burgers, sushi and other restaurants that say 45 minutes to an hour. Domino’s, time and again, deliver great stuff within 30 min.

The whole Domino’s experience does the job better than anything else out there.

This company knew that their competitive advantage was speedy delivery, not taste. So they addressed that by tackling taste and nailed it. Knowing that people turn to Domino’s for fast delivery, what better way to make it even faster than investing in building a mobile app that’s a fun experience? And with their newer menu, delivery service and app, more people than ever are ordering Domino’s. In fact, they’ve had huge success in turning around their customer satisfaction index and expanding their business globally due to all the above – and they’re now the 4th largest e-tailer in the US.

A food company that improves their menu and delivers a user experience that transcends taste buds? Yes, please. That’s a successful brand story to me.

And if you’ll please excuse me now, all this talk has made me hungry.