Has Domino’s Pizza lost its brand, its focus, and its corporate mind? Tater Tots? Really?

Tater Tot delivery from Domino's.
Tater Tot delivery from Domino's.

I love ’em, you love ’em, who doesn’t love Tater Tots?

They’re wonderful little nuggets of goodness that can be used in so many different and delicious ways. They’re fast and easy to prepare, whether you’re baking them alone, using them in a casserole, wrapping them in bacon as an appetizer or snack, or using them in a German-style hot potato salad. I love them simply baked until super crispy—with a bowl of horseradish-hot cocktail sauce on the side.

And those tasty little potato morsels are pretty darn cheap. At our local Costco, eight pounds—that’s right, eight pounds—are about $12. At 47 to 50 tots per pound, an eight-pound package contains nearly 400 tots. That’s about three-and-a-half cents per tot.

I also like fast-food pizza from time to time. One of my favorite pizza-chain pizzas is Domino’s X-Large Brooklyn pizza with diced tomatoes, hearty marinara sauce, onions, roasted red peppers, mushrooms, green peppers, Italian sausage, and pepperoni. Its thin crust is pliable and foldable in a New York City sort of way.

That being said, I also admire companies who are true to their core product, their core offering. So when I order a pizza, I don’t want to hear, “Do you want overpriced potatoes with that?” ($7 plus tax gets you about 24 tots and—and based on the Reddit photo below—quite possibly, a heart attack.)


Writing this has made me feel sort of greasy. I think I’ll take a shower and then make a green salad. Cheers!

By Stephen Brockelman

As a Sr. Writer at T. Rowe Price, I work with a group of the best copywriters around. We belong to the broader creative team within Enterprise Creative, a part of Corporate Marketing Services. _____________________________________________ A long and winding road: My path to T. Rowe Price was more twisted than Fidelity’s green line. With scholarship in hand, I left Kansas at 18 to study theatre in New York. When my soap opera paychecks stopped coming from CBS and started coming from the show’s sponsor, Proctor & Gamble, I discovered the power of advertising and switched careers. Over the years I’ve owned an ad agency in San Francisco; worked for Norman Lear on All in the Family, Good Times, Sanford and Son, and the rest of his hit shows; and as a member of Directors Guild of America, I directed Desi Arnaz in his last television appearance— we remained friends until his death. In 1988 I began freelancing full time didn’t look back. In January 2012 my rep at Boss Group called and said, “I know you don’t want to commute and writing for the financial industry isn’t high on your wish list, but I have a gig with T. Rowe Price in Owings Mills…” I was a contractor for eight months, drank the corporate Kool-Aid, became a TRP associate that August, and today I find myself smiling more often than not.

2 comments

  1. I love Tots as well, but never think of buying them. You can make them straight from the bag in less time than it takes to pick them up or wait for delivery. That photo was disgusting, but sadly all too common with take out and delivery. Plus the now recommended 25% tip. Egads.

    Reply
    1. Stephen Brockelman – Baltimore, Maryland – As a Sr. Writer at T. Rowe Price, I work with a group of the best copywriters around. We belong to the broader creative team within Enterprise Creative, a part of Corporate Marketing Services. _____________________________________________ A long and winding road: My path to T. Rowe Price was more twisted than Fidelity’s green line. With scholarship in hand, I left Kansas at 18 to study theatre in New York. When my soap opera paychecks stopped coming from CBS and started coming from the show’s sponsor, Proctor & Gamble, I discovered the power of advertising and switched careers. Over the years I’ve owned an ad agency in San Francisco; worked for Norman Lear on All in the Family, Good Times, Sanford and Son, and the rest of his hit shows; and as a member of Directors Guild of America, I directed Desi Arnaz in his last television appearance— we remained friends until his death. In 1988 I began freelancing full time didn’t look back. In January 2012 my rep at Boss Group called and said, “I know you don’t want to commute and writing for the financial industry isn’t high on your wish list, but I have a gig with T. Rowe Price in Owings Mills…” I was a contractor for eight months, drank the corporate Kool-Aid, became a TRP associate that August, and today I find myself smiling more often than not.
      Stephen Brockelman says:

      The thing that really rubs me raw is the request for a tip before the order is even processed. A lot can happen between the order and the delivery…and more often than not, does.

      Reply

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