Domino's Pizza

Domino's Pizza is an American restaurant chain that specializes in pizzas. The company was founded in 1960 with one restaurant. The two hundredth branch was opened in 1978. In 2006 the company had more than 8,000 branches. Currently Domino's has branches in more than 60 countries and in all 50 US states - more than 10,000 in total.

The company was founded in 1960 by Tom Monaghan, who five years before had opened his first pizzeria in Ypsilanti (Michigan). It currently has more than 14,500 establishments (more than 5000 in the United States alone, the second largest in the country behind Pizza Hut) and is established in 89 countries and territories. Since 1998 its largest shareholder is the private equity fund Bain Capital.

The number of eyes in the Domino's logo initially represented the number of locations. Nowadays there are 3 eyes in the logo.

History

The origins of the current Domino's go back to the October of June of 1960, when Tom Monaghan and his brother James bought the pizzeria "DomiNick's" with an initial investment of $900. The place was located in Ypsilanti, near the University of Eastern Michigan, and Tom's idea was to sell pizza delivery to students at nearby residences. That experience was not going as planned, so James sold half of the business to his brother for the Volkswagen Sedan they used for the deals.

In spite of everything, Tom Monaghan remained in charge of the restaurant and made important decisions for his future, such as reducing the menu of products and establishing a free home delivery. After acquiring two more restaurants in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor from a local businessman, in 1965 he renamed his three stores as "Domino's Pizza". The reason that motivated that change was that the former owner of DomiNick's wanted to recover the brand, so Tom looked for an alternative name that appeared below in the yellow pages. The logo is a domino that symbolizes the three original stores.

Shortly after Domino's was founded, Monaghan focused on expanding its business through franchises. In July 1967, the first franchised store in East Lansing was opened, and from that moment the figure kept increasing. Among other measures, the chain established industrial machinery to make pizzas more quickly, ordered thick boxes to prevent the product from being crushed, and introduced a novel delivery policy: since 1973 a free pizza was guaranteed if the Home delivery took more than 30 minutes.

Despite numerous setbacks, Monaghan managed to expand Domino's franchises through former employees and a new franchisee training program, The College of Pizzarology. By the end of the 1970s 280 stores had been opened, in 1981 they reached 500, and in 1983 the first two pizzerias were opened outside the US. UU., One in Winnipeg (Canada) and the other in Queensland (Australia), to exceed the number of 1,000 restaurants.

In 1988, the company opened its first establishment in a Spanish-speaking country in Bogotá (Colombia). Later it spread to Mexico and Guatemala (1989), Venezuela (1992), Dominican Republic (1993), Ecuador and Peru (1995). They were not established in Spain until 2008, after Grupo Zena left its Pizza Hut franchisee in favor of Domino's.

Tom Monaghan sold 93% of the company in 1998 to the Bain Capital venture capital fund for $1 billion. By then, the matrix had more than 7,000 establishments worldwide.

In 2004, Domino's began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Currently the company has renewed its menu to include other fast food dishes such as sausages or pasta.

Timeline

• 1960: Domino's Pizza is founded by Tom Monaghan. Tom and his brother James buy "DomiNick's", a pizza shop in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Monaghan borrows $500 to buy the store.
• 1961: James trades half his company for a Volkswagen Beetle.
• 1965: Monaghan calls his company "Domino's Pizza Inc."
• 1967: The first franchise location is opened in Ypsilanti.
• 1968: Head office and distribution center are destroyed by fire. The first Domino's Pizza location outside of Michigan opens in Burlington, Vermont.
• 1975: Amstar Corp., the maker of Domino Suiker, conducts a lawsuit for infringement of the brand name against Domino's Pizza. The court ruled that this is not the case.
• 1983: The first international branch opens in Winnipeg, Canada. The 1000th branch is opened, as well as the first branch on the Australian continent.
• 1989: Eduard Swagemakers introduces Domino's Pizza in the Netherlands after a heao internship at Domino's Pizza in the United States. He opens the first branch in Breda.
• 1990: The 1000th franchisee is contracted.
• 1992: Domino's introduces breadsticks, the first national non-pizza product.
• 1995: Domino's Pizza International opens its 1000th store. The first branch on the African continent opens its doors in Cairo, Egypt.
• 1996: www.dominos.com goes online. The company achieves a record revenue of $2.8 billion.
• 1997: The 1500th branch outside the US is opened, as well as 7 branches on 1 day on 5 continents.
• 1998: Owner and founder Tom Monaghan sold his business to Bain Capital Inc.
• 2000: The 2000th branch outside the US opens its doors.
• 2001: In Brooklyn, New York, Domino's Pizza opens its 7,000th store. Eduard Swagemakers sells its majority share in Domino's Pizza Nederland to the parent company. From then on Domino's Pizza Nederland is part of Domino's Pizza International.
• 2004: Domino's Pizza starts trading of shares on the New York Stock Exchange quoting DPZ.
• 2006: Domino's Pizza The Netherlands is sold together with a number of other national European Domino's Pizza organizations to Domino's Pizza Australia. Domino's Pizza now has more than 5000 branches in the United States, 83 branches in the Netherlands and 17 branches in Belgium.
• In 2007 the company takes over the Dutch pizza chain Al Capone's and the Belgian pizza chain Alvolo. In the first half of 2007 the restaurants will be converted into Domino's Pizza locations.
• 2008: Milestone: 100 stores in the Benelux, 9386 stores worldwide.
• 2010: Domino's Pizza Nederland Corporate takes over Domino's Pizza Dordrecht 1 & 2. In addition, Domino's Pizza Nederland Corporate is starting to launch new pizzerias, including in Katwijk and Hoorn. The intention is to have ten Domino's Pizza Nederland Corporate stores by the end of 2010.
• 2010: Domino's Pizza Enterprises, owner of DP Netherlands, Belgium, France, Australia and New Zealand, takes over the Belgian chain Pizza Company. In total, around 15 Pizza Company's are being converted into Domino's Pizza Stores.
• 2013: Domino's Pizza Enterprises buys a 75% stake in Domino's Pizza Japan.
• 2015: A 3rd branch is opened in Dordrecht, which means the 200th branch in the Benelux. This is also the 1500th store within Domino's Pizza Enterprises.
• 2018: The 250th branch in the Benelux was reached with the openings in 's Gravenzande and Aalst.

Products

The star product is pizza in its different varieties. Domino's was characterized by using a common (classic) American-style dough, with more cheese and thickness than Italian-style ones. In 1989 he introduced the thick dough pizza (pizza bread) and since then the variety has increased, including thin dough, cheese on the edges, crunchy dough stuffed with cream cheese (double decker) and calzone among others. The offer depends on each country: in Spain, the masses with stuffed border include a variety with goat cheese. And in Israel a pizza was tried for the first timeVegan with cheese made from soy milk.

The doughs are prepared and are kneaded in the restaurant itself on a tray. After spreading the sauces and ingredients, the pizza is placed in an automatic oven with the scheduled time for proper cooking. This industrial method, different from the preparation of a traditional pizza, has allowed Domino's franchises to expand rapidly.

In addition to pizzas, other products are offered. In the entree section you can choose garlic bread, chicken wings, mozzarella fingers and desserts.

Most Domino's Pizza franchises in the United States sell Coca-Cola drinks, something that does not happen in every country.

International

Domino's has stores in more than 60 countries. In most cases Domino's has master franchise agreements with one company per country.

Only three companies have master franchise agreements that include more than one country:

• The master franchise for Australia, New Zealand, France, Belgium and the Netherlands is Domino's Pizza Enterprises. Domino's Pizza Enterprises was founded in 1993 and initially owned the stores in Australia and New Zealand. In 2006 the company purchased the rights to manage the stores in Belgium, the Netherlands and France. DPE opens its 1500th store in Dordrecht on 18 May 2015.
• The master franchise Domino's Pizza Group has owned stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland since 1993. The company bought the rights for Germany in 2011. In August 2012, the company purchased the rights for Luxembourg, Switzerland and Liechtenstein from the previous Swiss master franchise, with an option to also take over the Austrian master franchise.
• The master franchises for India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are currently from the Indian company Jubilant Foodworks, which also has the right to open Dunkin' Donuts stores in India.

Advertising

In 1973, Domino's Pizza first introduced a nationwide guarantee for customers: if they were not delivered pizza at home in less than 30 minutes, they would receive it for free. In the late 1980s, the measure was replaced by a three-dollar discount and offer coupons. Although this technique was intended to guarantee the rapidity of the distribution as an added value of the company, Tom Monaghan had to do without it in 1993 in the face of accusations of reckless driving by some of its distributors. In many countries it has remained a hallmark.

Pizza delivery was originally done in cars, although most countries use motorcycles. Since then the company has developed projects to accelerate the distribution, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, robots (DRU), and even a Chevrolet car, Domino's DXP, which incorporates an oven to keep the pizzas warm.

In the 1980s, Domino's Pizza created a pet for the United States television commercials. "The Noid", a wicked and crazy red elf who wanted to spoil pizzas without success, was made by plasticine animation by Will Vinton's studio. Although this pet is no longer active, he starred in the video game Yo! Noid (1990) and has been parodied in series as Family Guy.

Another hallmark has been sponsorship of motor sports. In 1990 he supported the Doug Shierson Racing team in the United States Car Championship, so the pilot Arie Luyendyk was proclaimed winner of the 500 Indianapolis Miles with a car with the colors of Domino's. Between 2003 and 2006 was one of the official sponsors of NASCAR, and later hosted to David Reutimann (Michael Waltrip Racing) in the NASCAR Cup of 2007.

Restaurants

Domino's Pizza has more than 5,700 establishments in 73 countries, which makes it the second largest chain of pizzerias worldwide behind Pizza Hut. If Domino's restaurants that legally belong to other franchising companies are added, the figure amounts to 11,000 stores.

The headquarters is in Ann Arbor, Michigan (United States). The first store was Ypsilanti Dominick's pizzeria that the Monaghan brothers bought on June 10, 1960, the official foundation date. Since then, only in the US More than 2,800 stores have been opened (5,076 if franchisees are added).

There are three companies that have acquired major franchise agreements worldwide:

• Domino's Pizza Group is a British subsidiary that operates on the London Stock Exchange and has exclusive management, opening and franchise rights in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. It is the most profitable Domino's franchisor worldwide and has 860 establishments.
• Domino's Pizza Enterprises is an Australian subsidiary that owns Domino's rights in Australia, New Zealand, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The company was installed in Australia in 1983, and after a series of ups and downs it was acquired in 1993 by another local company, Silvio's Pizza, which two years later renamed all its premises with the North American brand.
• Jubilant FoodWorks is an Indian company that owns rights in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. After the United States, India is the country with the largest presence of the multinational, more than 1,000 restaurants in total.

Trivia

On the door of the underground former launch center of the LGM-30 Minuteman in Minuteman Missile National Historic Site in South Dakota is a parody of Domino's pizza box.

Domino's introduced a new logo in 2012. What is striking is that the word "pizza" has been omitted. Domino's did this because it sells more than just pizzas. Domino's does not want to confuse consumers by also placing 'pizza' under the new logo. In the Netherlands and Belgium the new logo is applied in new stores and on the website.

Controversy

Domino's Pizza had to face a lawsuit in 1975 against the sugar company Amstar Corporation, maker of Domino sugar, for alleged violation of trademark rights. Although the lawsuit lasted five years and alternative names such as Pizza Dispatch were considered, a court in New Orleans finally ruled in favor of the pizzeria and it was able to keep its mark.

In February 2015, Domino's Pizza announced the temporary closure of all its restaurants in Peru, after knowing that some stores had unhealthy problems. The employees themselves came to report the situation. The situation was not resolved until August 2016, with the reopening of a branch in the District of Miraflores.