Domino's wins with its DIY attitude (and its takeaway-only HOV lanes)

Anything you can do, I can do better (alone)... Domino's just delivered a hot box of tasty earnings — without relying on food-delivery middlemen. The pizza chain beat both sales and profit expectations in the 4th quarter, sending shares up a steamy 26%. Extra impressive, given Domino's DIY attitude:

• Delivery app middlemen like DoorDash and Grubhub promise to boost restaurants' sales, but they take a cut of that money.
• Restaurants don't want to splurge on their own delivery app/drivers, so they'll partner with apps for tech + exposure despite the fees. Shake Shack, Starbucks, and Wendy's are all listed on partner apps.
• Domino's is 1 of the only big chains that refuses to work with outside delivery apps — it thinks commissions are lame and wants to have control over its customer service (and guard against cold pizza).

Domino's is one of the OGs... that popularized delivery — it was always DIY. But now with increased competition from the apps, it's rolling up its sleeves to beef up its delivery/carryout game:

• Online: Introduced online-ordering for carryout, and an app that shows real-time GPS order tracking. Its AnyWare platform lets you even order via Alexa, Slack, or Apple Watch.
• Speed: Introduced designated lanes in stores to cut wait times for carryout — it's also building more stores to be closer to pizza lovers and slice delivery times.