• Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, March 2, 2010 10:38 AM

Domino's Pizza, which announced a higher-than-expected quarterly profit this morning, and its two main rivals, Papa John's and Pizza Hut, have weathered the recession better than others in the restaurant industry thanks, in part, to a marketing blitz. Indeed, sales in the "quick-serve" restaurant category are expected to rise 3% this year compared with 2.5% for the overall industry, according to the National Restaurant Association.

Papa John's founder and CEO John Schnatter said last week that heavy marketing from Domino's and Pizza Hut "was like a light switch" that turned pizza sales from running 5% to 6% below their year-ago levels to 5% to 6% above them in the early weeks of 2010. He pointed out that pizza chains' market share is expanding at the expense of other types of fare.

In announcing today that rising international business and a new U.S. pizza recipe had boosted sales and more than doubled fourth-quarter earnings, Domino's outgoing CEO David Brandon pointed to "the bold steps we have been taking to reignite our domestic system," Reuters reports.

Read the whole story at Wall Street Journal »