In 2007 Domino’s franchisees went after corporate for requiring that they use a common point of sale (POS) system. PULSE, Domino’s custom-built POS, cost franchisees around $25,000 but would allow all Domino’s outlets to “have one unified point-of-sale system to look for trends, improve customer service and enable the chain eventually to start a universal online pizza ordering system for all locations.”
To be fair, Domino’s did not put this requirement in the franchise agreement in a very explicit way. A court ruled against Domino’s originally in 2007, but was then overturned in Domino’s favor in early 2008. The key phrase in the franchise agreement was, “…you may purchase items meeting our specifications from any source.” Some franchisees interpreted this to mean any POS system that would send Domino’s the appropriate data, where Domino’s contended that the phrase meant a franchisee could purchase PULSE from any source they found.
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