Domino's Pizza beats sales expectations as orders thrive

April 29 (Reuters) - Domino's Pizza topped Wall Street expectations for first-quarter same-store sales on Monday, as consumers in the United States tapped into the pizza chain's spruced-up loyalty program and other promotional offerings.

Domino's has managed to buck a downbeat trend for eating out in the United States, with better returns on its loyalty program and fresh promotional offers drawing inflation-weary consumers to its pizzas and chicken wings.

Domino's U.S. same-store sales rose 5.6% in the quarter, with CEO Russell Weiner saying that the company saw order growth across all income cohorts in the country.

Analysts on average estimated quarterly same-store sales to rise 4.04%, according to LSEG data.

Domino's revamped its loyalty program in September last year and entered into a third-party delivery partnership with Uber Eats, which helped the company rekindle delivery demand after a period of weakness.

It is also pushing forward with its offers and promotions such as giving customers a $3 coupon on online tips of $3 or more to their delivery drivers.

Domino's said it remained on track to end the year with 3% or more of its sales coming through the Uber Eats channel.

Total revenue for the first quarter rose 5.9% over the year earlier to $1.09 billion, compared with market expectations of $1.08 billion.

A rebound in orders has also given the pizza chain room to increase menu prices. The company had said in February it plans to raise prices in the low-single-digit percentage range in the U.S. this year.

Lower food costs drove its U.S. company-owned store gross margin up by 0.6 percentage point in the first quarter compared with the year earlier.

Higher franchisee fee also contributed to its first-quarter earnings of $3.58 per share, compared with estimates of $3.39.

(Reporting by Juveria Tabassum; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)