Domino's Pizza continued to ride a wave of momentum fueled by a positive reception of its new pizza recipe as sales at domestic stores open at least a year rose 11.7 percent in its third quarter, the company announced this morning.

The Ann Arbor Township-based firm's global retail sales, a figure that includes revenues at company-owned stores and franchisee-owned stores, rose 12.1 percent over the third quarter of 2009 to about about $1.4 billion.

The chain posted a profit of $16.6 million in the third quarter, down from $17.8 million, a decrease the company attributed to one-time financial items such as savings on debt retirement that occurred in 2009.

Without those one-time items, the company's profit would have rose $6.7 million due to "improved domestic and international sales, international store growth, higher volumes in supply chain, lower interest expense and a lower effective tax rate."

Domino's said increased volume, a strong international division and the company's redesigned pizza recipe, which was introduced in late December, boosted the bottom line.

"We're pleased that people love our reformulated pizza, the value of our offer and our honest and straight-forward communication of our brand values," Domino's CEO J. Patrick Doyle said in a statement. "We're a new Domino's. This quarter has proven that our strategy is working, resulting in higher sales, operating income and cash flows. Despite these tough economic times, we continue to outperform the majority of the restaurant industry due to our energized domestic business and our powerful international division."

In the third quarter, Domino's opened 90 new stores, including 78 foreign stores, and closed 18 stores. The company now has 9,169 stores worldwide -- 4,450 domestic franchisee-owned stores, 455 domestic company-owned stores and 4,264 international stores.

Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.