Brands
Who is Merrill Pereyra the new CEO of Domino’s Pizza Enterprises?
MUMBAI: If you ordered a pizza from Domino’s Australia this month, there’s a new captain steering the ship. Meet Merrill Pereyra, the freshly minted CEO for Australia and New Zealand, now responsible for over 880 stores across both nations.
So who exactly is this man trusted with Domino’s largest and most foundational markets?
Picture a fast food veteran who has spent three decades criss-crossing continents, fixing broken brands and building empires from scratch. That’s Pereyra in a nutshell.
His resume reads like a world tour of quick service restaurants. Most recently, he spent five years as managing director of Pizza Hut across India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Maldives. Before that, he ran the show at QSR Brands, commanding 1,200 Pizza Hut and KFC stores across Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia and Brunei with 30,000 staff.
But here’s where it gets interesting: Pereyra already knows Domino’s intimately. Between 2013 and 2016, he rescued the struggling Indonesian operation, growing it from 42 underperforming stores to 80 profitable outlets. He flipped store Ebitda from negative 2 per cent to positive 6 per cent, built a state-of-the-art commissary in seven months, and even orchestrated a merger with private equity firm Everstone Capital.
The Australia connection runs deeper still. From 2011 to 2013, Pereyra led Healthy Habits, Australia’s top sandwich bar chain, driving nationwide expansion.
Yet the bedrock of his expertise comes from 23 years with McDonald’s. Starting as a trainee manager in Australia, he climbed to regional manager for South East Asia, opening restaurants in Saudi Arabia and conducting feasibility studies across Pacific islands. He literally wrote the book on brand expansion, authoring “Expand Your Brand: How to Supersize Any Brand, Anywhere in the World.”
His academic credentials are equally impressive: executive programmes at Wharton, Harvard Business School, Insead and Thunderbird School of Global Management.
What drives him? Pereyra describes his leadership as grounded in “humility, clarity and purpose,” with people at the centre. He emphasises supporting franchise partners, developing leaders and fostering cultures built on safety, trust and continuous improvement.
For Domino’s, the choice is clear. They’ve picked a proven turnaround specialist who understands franchise operations, knows how to scale profitably, and has already delivered results for the brand once before. In a fiercely competitive Australian pizza market, Merrill Pereyra might just be the secret ingredient Domino’s has been looking for.
Brands
Janhvi Kapoor teams up with Amaha to spotlight alcohol addiction
‘Off the Rocks’ aims to shift stigma to science in mental health discourse
MUMBAI: Janhvi Kapoor has partnered with Amaha to launch Off the Rocks, an awareness-led initiative that seeks to reframe alcohol addiction as a clinical mental health condition rather than a moral failing.
The initiative comes at a time when alcohol consumption is increasingly normalised in social settings, yet awareness around dependency and addiction remains limited. According to estimates, nearly one in five alcohol users in India may face addiction, but many continue without diagnosis or access to professional care, often held back by stigma or lack of understanding.
Kapoor said the idea for the campaign stemmed from a gap she has observed in public conversations. “The conversation around alcohol is either completely absent or deeply judgmental, and neither serves the people who actually need support,” she said. “Alcohol addiction is real, it’s clinical, and it affects people across every walk of life.”
Off the Rocks is designed as a long-term, multi-format effort rather than a one-off campaign. It will feature expert-led discussions, personal stories, and accessible content aimed at building awareness, reducing stigma, and guiding individuals towards professional help.
To ensure clinical depth, Kapoor has teamed up with Amaha, a full-spectrum mental health organisation with a large network of psychiatrists and psychologists. The organisation brings both infrastructure and expertise, particularly in treating moderate to severe mental health conditions, including alcohol use disorder.
“Addiction sits at the intersection of neuroscience, psychology, and lived experience, and remains one of the most stigmatised conditions we see,” said Amaha founder and CEO Amit Malik. He added that the initiative would help connect public awareness with credible, evidence-based care.
Amaha currently operates across multiple cities with in-person centres and digital services, offering therapy, psychiatry, and self-care tools in several languages. Its platform has reached millions globally, reflecting a growing demand for structured mental health support in India.
With Off the Rocks, Kapoor and Amaha are attempting to shift the narrative from blame to understanding, and from silence to support. If it succeeds, the initiative could help more people recognise when social drinking crosses the line and, more importantly, where to turn next.
