Domino's Kelso owner James Acreman talks renovations and competition in west

In terms of what was done to the Kelso store during a recent renovation blitz, he has a short answer: "Everything."

And the long answer?

"An entire new customer area, all new signage. We brought it up to a more modern standard of commercial kitchen: stainless steel walls for food prep areas and all the wash-up areas," Mr Acreman said.

"We increased the size of the kitchen - just to do with the capacity and the volume of what we have these days.

"We've changed the wash-up area so it's actually a lot easier to work in; basically improved the work flow."

The business was closed for 11 days from mid-July for what were sometimes 16-hour work days (including painting at night), but has now reopened.

"It [the store] just didn't present the way a business should present. The customers deserved something better than a tired old Domino's store," Mr Acreman said.

Mr Acreman - who has owned the Kelso store with his wife Astrid since 2016 - said the renovations had been in the works for a few years now, but it was a record attempt during October last year that provided the final push.

Domino's Kelso set out to make 25,000 pizzas from the Monday to the Sunday of Race Week to beat the Australian record of 23,649 pizzas made in one week.

Mr Acreman said the record attempt was, unfortunately, ruined by the weather last year, but there were some changes made to the store to accommodate it.

"We moved the dough area. We actually partitioned off the customer area with Pepsi fridges and made a second dough area to give us some extra space in the store and it really worked.

"And that was what gave us this design in the end - that record attempt."

In terms of the economic climate, he said business is good but margins are hard in his industry.

"Commodity prices affect us a lot because we sell a lot of protein. Wheat's through the roof at the moment. Packaging costs are pretty substantial.

"Fundamentally, the business is operating on, as a percentage, some of the lowest margins it's ever operated on, but we're hoping there'll be some correction with some of those costs because we don't want price increases to customers that we don't need to have."

The Acremans own seven stores in the region, including the Domino's at the newly expanded Westpoint Shopping Centre that opened in mid-2018.

"It's so good to have something that side of town," he said. "It saves people from having to go in to town. The parking's good.

"And it's good for our deliveries because we're close to our customers. They get really good service times from us over there.

"We get caught out here [at Kelso] a little bit because of the traffic lights and the traffic."

He said he is watching the city's soon-to-open third McDonald's, on the Mitchell Highway, with interest.

"We haven't had a lot of competition on that side of town.

"It's been strange over here [at the Kelso store]. When Oporto opened, this shop [Domino's Kelso] really dropped off.

"And then when the second KFC opened, it didn't. But then when Carl's Jr opened, it did.

"So it's swings and roundabouts.

"It will be interesting to see if that Maccas does actually steal some work from other people or it just cannabilises their own customers."

The city's first Oporto franchise opened in the Gateway development between Raglan and Kelso in mid-2021, Bathurst's second KFC opened in the same Gateway development in late December 2021 and Carl's Jr opened in April this year.

Mr Acreman did say, however, that the new commercial developments in the city's west - the third McDonald's there will be part of a complex that includes a Subway, Red Rooster and petrol station - would be good for the many people who live in that area.

In terms of the two Domino's stores in Bathurst, Mr Acreman said both were looking for drivers.

"We really need those people who want a second job, who want to do just an extra six or nine hours a week, do a few nights of deliveries, stuff like that.

"That's probably been our biggest thing that's changed since COVID.

"Before COVID, we used to have a lot of people who used this [working for Domino's] as a top-up income - they'd be doing an apprenticeship or they'd be doing something or other else.

"And with COVID, we really lost those second job [people], and they just haven't come back."

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