Domino's Pizza
Domino's Pizza is a prominent global pizza chain, known for its extensive network of over 13,200 franchises across more than eighty countries. Founded in 1960 by brothers Tom and James Monaghan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the company quickly gained popularity through its focus on fast, convenient pizza delivery. The first franchise opened in 1967, and the brand expanded rapidly throughout the 1970s and 1980s, eventually becoming a key player in the competitive pizza market alongside names like Pizza Hut and Papa John's.
Domino's offers a wide variety of menu items beyond pizza, including chicken, pasta, sandwiches, and desserts, which has contributed to its enduring appeal. The company is also recognized for its technological innovations, such as the introduction of online ordering systems, the Domino's Tracker for real-time order updates, and the development of specialized delivery vehicles like the Domino's DXP. Notably, Domino's has faced challenges and controversies, including the discontinuation of its thirty-minutes-or-less delivery guarantee due to safety concerns. Overall, Domino's Pizza has established itself as a significant force in the food service industry, continually adapting to changing consumer preferences and technological advancements.
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Subject Terms
Domino's Pizza
Company Information
- Date Founded: 1960
- Industry: restaurant; fast food
- Corporate Headquarters: Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Type: Public
Overview
Domino's Pizza is one of the world's largest and most successful pizza chains. By 2024, it boasted approximately 20,900 franchises in more than ninety markets worldwide. On average, the company estimates that it sells approximately 1.5 million pizzas per day. Founded by Tom and James Monaghan in 1960, Domino's became an industry giant, primarily on the strength of its emphasis on quick, convenient pizza delivery. After opening its first franchise store in 1967, Domino's slowly grew as a fledgling pizza delivery chain in the 1970s before enjoying a massive national and international expansion in the 1980s and beyond. Along with its franchise stores and company-operated stores, Domino's also maintains an extensive domestic supply chain of dough manufacturing and food supply centers through which its North American stores are supplied with essential products. Over time, Domino's established itself as a dominant force in the pizza industry, carving out a place alongside competitors such as Pizza Hut, Little Caesar's, and Papa John's.
In addition to an array of pizzas, Domino's is known for selling items such as boneless chicken, Buffalo wings, pasta, sandwiches, breadsticks, and desserts. The company also is recognized as a leader in technological innovation. In the 2000s and 2010s, Domino's developed an online ordering system that allowed customers to place orders over the Internet and create profiles through which they could save their favorite orders for quick reuse in the future. Through these and other efforts, Domino's has firmly cemented its reputation as a top food service industry brand.
History
The story of Domino's Pizza begins with Tom and James Monaghan, a pair of brothers who spent most of their formative years in foster homes and orphanages. While Tom went on to briefly serve in the Marines as a young man, James took a job with the postal service and earned money doing carpentry work at a Ypsilanti, Michigan, pizza shop called DomiNick's. After completing his time in the service, Tom moved in with James. When the owner of DomiNick's expressed interest in selling his business in 1960, the brothers secured a $900 loan and bought the pizza shop themselves. Just eight months into their partnership, James traded his share of DomiNick's to Tom for a Volkswagen Beetle and left the business in his brother's hands.
Because DomiNick's featured only a small dining area, Monaghan focused much of his attention on delivery. After hiring a few laid-off factory workers as his initial delivery fleet, Monaghan enjoyed his first taste of success. Within two years, Monaghan opened two more pizza shops in other parts of Michigan and began to build a growing business. In 1965, after the original owner of DomiNick's tried to cash in on the company's success by maintaining the rights to the pizza shop's name, Monaghan redubbed his business Domino's Pizza.
As Monaghan's success continued, he moved to turn it into a full-scale chain. The first Domino's franchise store opened in Ypsilanti in 1967. Over the next few years, the chain quickly expanded through the Midwest. Although it faced some early growing pains, Domino's continued to expand throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In 1983, the chain's first international franchise opened in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. By the mid-1980s, Domino's began expanding at a blistering pace, with the total number of franchises surpassing 2,000 by 1985. International expansion also continued with the opening of the first stores in England and Japan in 1985. By the end of the decade, Domino's boasted around 5,000 franchises.
As Domino's itself expanded, so did its menu. The first new menu item was pan pizza, which was added in 1989. In the 1990s, new items such as breadsticks, Buffalo wings, and thin crust pizza were added. The 1990s also marked Monaghan's departure from the company. In 1998, he sold his ownership stake in Domino's to Bain Capital, Inc. and stepped away from the pizza empire he created.
In the 2000s and 2010s, Domino's rebranded itself by placing increased emphasis on online ordering and introducing a new and improved menu based on customer feedback. In 2008, the company launched the Domino's Tracker, a new technology that allowed users to track the progress of their order online in real time and made it easier than ever to order pizza online. In 2011, the company launched its first app for iPhone, followed by apps for Android and iPads in 2012 and 2014. Features of the Domino's app included: build your own pizza, order ahead, track your order, find the nearest store, and view offers and in-app exclusive deals. Starting in 2010, Domino's began rolling out a new menu that featured an improved version of the classic Domino's pie, a new line of premium pizzas, and additional items such as expanded chicken options, sandwiches, bread side items, bread bowl pasta dishes, and desserts. With its newly expanded menu, Domino's continued to enjoy great success.
Impact
Domino's Pizza owes much of its success to the innovative ideas and technologies it has introduced since its earliest days. One of the company's earliest and most influential innovations was the establishment of a thirty-minutes-or-less delivery guarantee. This guarantee, which promised customers that their order would be free of charge if it did not arrive within thirty minutes, proved wildly popular and became a major part of the company's marketing campaigns. However, it also led to some serious problems. In their effort to meet their delivery deadlines, many Domino's drivers took to driving recklessly. This led to numerous traffic accidents, including a 1989 incident in which a female pedestrian was struck and injured by a Domino's driver. When a jury later awarded the woman a $78 million settlement over the incident, Domino's officially dropped the thirty-minutes-or-less guarantee.
In 2008, Domino's experienced a major set back. The 2008 Domino's pizza crisis saw declining sales and poor reviews due to factors like subpar food quality, mediocre service, the 2008 economic recession, and competition from frozen pizza and rival chains. Customers criticized the pizza for tasting like cardboard and the sauce like ketchup, while delivery service lost its appeal. In response, Domino's launched advertisements acknowledging its flaws and worked to rebuild trust with its customer base. It also revamped its pizza recipe, improved franchise management, and adopted digital technology for more efficient ordering.
Other advancements pioneered by Domino's had a transformative effect on the entire food delivery industry. In 1998, the company introduced the HeatWave, a special heated bag designed to keep customers' pizza warm until it arrived on their doorsteps. This was taken one step further in 2015 when the company introduced the Domino's DXP, a specialized pizza delivery vehicle that featured a built-in warming oven that could hold up to eighty pizzas. In addition to the Domino's Tracker, the company looked to further streamline the online ordering process in the 2010s by introducing a Domino's smartphone app and by making it possible for customers to place orders through various social media platforms and through advanced devices such as the Amazon Echo.
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