Domino's Pizza
In 1960, Tom Monaghan and his brother, James, purchased DomiNick's, a small pizza store at 301 West Cross Street[3] in Ypsilanti, Michigan, near Eastern Michigan University.[4] The deal was secured by a $500 down payment, and the brothers borrowed $900 to pay for the store.[5] The brothers planned to split the work hours evenly, but James didn't want to quit his job as a full-time postman to keep up with the demands of the new business. Within eight months, James traded his half of the business to Tom for the Volkswagen Beetle they used for pizza deliveries.[5] By 1965, Tom Monaghan had purchased two additional pizzerias; he now had a total of three locations in the same county. Monaghan wanted the stores to share the same branding, but the original owner forbade him from using the DomiNick's name. One day an employee returned from a pizza delivery and suggested the name Domino's. Monaghan immediately loved the idea and officially renamed the business Domino's Pizza, Inc. in 1965.[5]
The company logo originally had three dots, representing the three stores in 1965.[5] Monaghan planned to add a new dot with the addition of every new store, but this idea quickly faded, as Domino's experienced rapid growth.[5] Domino's Pizza opened its first franchise location in 1967[6] and by 1978 the company expanded to 200 stores.[7] In 1975, Domino's faced a lawsuit by Amstar Corporation, the maker of Domino Sugar, alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition. On May 2, 1980, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans found in favor of Domino's Pizza.[8]
International expansion[edit]
On May 12, 1983, Domino's opened its first international store, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.[9] That same year, Domino's opened its 1,000th store overall. In 1985, they opened their first store in the United Kingdom in Luton.[10] Also in 1985, Domino's opened their first store in Tokyo, Japan. In 1993, they became the second American franchise to open in the Dominican Republic and the first one to open in Haiti, under the direction of entrepreneur Luis de Jesús Rodríguez.[11] By 1995, Domino's had expanded to 1,000 international locations. In 1997, Domino's opened its 1,500th international location, opening seven stores in one day across five continents.[12] As of February 11, 2016, Domino's operates 1004 stores across 230 cities in India.[13] By 2014 the company had grown to 6,000 international locations and was planning to expand to pizza's birthplace, Italy; this was achieved on October 5, 2015 in Milan with the first restaurant. CEO Patrick Doyle in May 2014 said the company would concentrate on its delivery model there.[14]
China[edit]
Domino's Pizza chose to use its traditional delivery-based business model in China, neither altering its flavors nor reducing the sizes of pizzas,[15] and promising a 30-minute delivery time.[16] The delivery time promise failed due to Chinese automobile traffic patterns stymieing the delivery operations.[16] The large pizza sizes prevented Chinese people from using knives and forks to eat them,[15] and takeout services were unpopular with Chinese people due to cultural reasons.[17] Savio S. Chan (Chinese: 陳少宏; pinyin: Chén Shàohóng) and Michael Zakkour, authors of China's Super Consumers: What 1 Billion Customers Want and How to Sell it to Them, wrote that Domino's "failed miserably" in its strategy,[16] resulting in the company being "basically" irrelevant in China, with 40 restaurants as of 2014.[15] By January 2014 the company introduced small restaurants in the China market. Jamie Fullerton of Vice stated that these restaurants served "solid, mildly overpriced pizzas" and did not have unique to China menu items.[18]
Sale[edit]
In 1998, after 38 years of ownership, Domino's founder Tom Monaghan announced his retirement, sold 93 percent of the company to Bain Capital, Inc. for about $1 billion, and ceased being involved in day-to-day operations of the company.[19] A year later, the company named David A. Brandon as its CEO.[20]
Present[edit]
In 2004, after 44 years as a privately held company, Domino's began trading common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "DPZ".[21] Industry trade publication Pizza Today magazine named Domino's Pizza "Chain of the Year" in 2003, 2010, and 2011.[22][23][24] In a simultaneous celebration in January 2006, Domino's opened its 5,000th U.S. store in Huntley, Illinois, and its 3,000th international store in Panama City, Panama making 8,000 total stores for the system.[25] In August 2006, the Domino's location in Tallaght, Dublin, Ireland, became the first store in Domino's history to hit a turnover of $3 million (€2.35 million) per year.[26] As of September 2006, Domino's has 8,200+ stores worldwide, which totaled $1.4 billion in gross income.[27]
Innovations[edit]
In 2007, Domino's introduced its Veterans Delivering the Dream franchising program and also rolled out its online and mobile ordering sites.[7] In 2008, Domino's introduced the Pizza Tracker, an online application that allows customers to view the status of their order in a simulated "real time" progress bar.[28] The first Domino's with a dining room opened in Stephenville, Texas, giving the customers the option to either eat in or take their pizza home. Since 2005, the voice of Domino's Pizza's US phone ordering service has been Kevin Railsback.[29]
In a 2009 survey of consumer taste preferences among national chains by Brand Keys, Domino's was last — tied with Chuck E. Cheese's. In December that year, Domino's announced plans to entirely reinvent its pizza. It began a self-critical ad campaign in which consumers were filmed criticizing the then-current pizza's quality and chefs were shown developing a new pizza.[30][31] The new pizza was unveiled that same month. The following year, 2010 and Domino's 50th anniversary, the company hired J. Patrick Doyle as its new CEO and experienced a 14.3% quarterly gain. While admitted not to endure, the success was described by Doyle as one of the largest quarterly same-store sales jumps ever recorded by a major fast-food chain.[32][33]
In 2015, Dominos unveiled a special "pizza car" that can carry 80 pizzas, sides, 2-liter bottles of soda and dipping sauces.[34] It also has a 140-degree oven on board and is more fuel efficient than a standard delivery car. Officially named the DXP, the car is built on the Chevy Spark platform and each car will be retired once it hits 100,000 miles.[35]
In 2016, Domino's in New Zealand delivered the world's first pizza delivery by unmanned aerial vehicle using the DRU Drone by Flirety.[36]
Naming[edit]
In August 2012, Domino's Pizza changed their name to simply Domino's to emphasize their variety of non-pizza product such as chicken wings, apple pies, lasagna and pasta. At the same time, Domino's introduced a new logo that removed the blue rectangle and text under the domino in the logo, and changed the formerly all-red domino to be blue on the side with two dots and red on the side with one dot.[37][38]
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