Domino’s Japan changes medium pizzas to small, without changing size, in confusing clarification

Domino’s Pizza creates visual aid as it clears up confusing order system that’s been around for years.

So let’s say you’re in Japan and craving pizza. You’re not starving, but you’re definitely hungry. Basically, you’ve got a medium-sized appetite, so you grab your phone and order a medium-sized pizza from Domino’s Pizza Japan. Problem solved, right?

Nope, because you actually just ordered the smallest pizza Domino’s Japan offers. That might actually make sense if Domino’s Japan only offered two sizes, medium and large, but that’s not the case, as the medium pizza is the smallest of three sizes you can order.

▼ That’s Domino’s medium pizza on the left.

OK, so maybe they call their sizes something like “medium, large, and extra-large,” or “medium, large, and Sato-size?” Again, no. In the above photo the smallest pizza is the “medium” and the largest one, on the right, is the “large.”

So what’s the pizza size between medium and large called? Medium plus? Junior large? Both of those would have some sort of logic behind them, but instead that pizza in the middle, the one that’s bigger than a medium, is the “regular” size…and it gets weirder still.

Up until the summer of 2019, Domino’s Japan just had two pizza sizes, “medium” and “large,” but that August the chain added the “regular”. In other words, the “regular” size is the newest addition to the menu, so when it was introduced the “regular” was the one size that Domino’s customers were least familiar with.

▼ So to review, the smallest pizza is the “medium,” the one with the shortest history is the “regular,” and only the “large” makes any sense.

If all this seems to you like a recipe for confusion, you’re not alone. After three and a half years, Domino’s Japan seems to have finally noticed the whirring roar of people across Japan scratching their heads at their strange size names, so the chain has announced it’s renaming them. According to the press release, Domino’s is changing the names from medium, regular, and large to small, medium, and large, as they are “designations that Japanese people are familiar with.”

▼ It’s probably a safe bet that “small, medium, and large” will make more sense than “medium, regular, and large” to non-Japanese people too, but hey, a win-win is a win-win.

The changeover should solve the problem of customers unwittingly ordering a smaller pizza than they wanted when asking for a “medium,” but also opens to the door to the possibility of someone who’s gotten accustomed to asking for a “medium” when they actually do want Domino’s smallest pizza ending up with more pie than they wanted. To help everyone keep the names straight, Domino’s has prepared a handy reference chart, visually representing that “medium” is becoming “small,” “regular” is becoming “medium,” and “large,” sensibly, is staying “large.”

▼ Domino’s Japan recommends the newly-named small for one or two people, the new medium for two or three, and the continuing large for three or four.

In response to the renaming, the sound of head-scratching has been replaced with sighs of relief, as shown in online reactions such as:

“This is a big help. I always got confused about what to order.”
“Finally free from that annoyance.”
“The first time I ordered a ‘medium’ from Domino’s, I was shocked [at how small it was].”
“Hold on, I’ve actually been ordering the smallest pizza all this time?”
“I never knew that the ‘regular’ was different from the ‘medium.’”
“I always order large pizzas, so this doesn’t affect me, but it’s still nice to see them change the names.”
“Hey, Starbucks, can you switch to ‘small, medium, and large’ too?”

The new names go into effect on February 13, so make sure you order your Domino’s Big Dac Burger Pizza order appropriately.

Source: PR Times via Iza via Livedoor News via Hachima Kiko, Twitter (1, 2)
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Insert images: PR Times, Pakutaso
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