Domino's Pizza - Ann Arbor

Domino's Pizza corporate logo.

Domino's Pizza, Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) is an international fast food pizza delivery corporation headquartered just outside Ann Arbor. It was founded by Tom Monaghan, with the first store in Ypsilanti.. As of 2006, it had 8,000 corporate and franchised stores in more than 54 countries. It was the second-largest pizza chain in the United States when it went public in 2004 for just under $15 a share.

http://www.dominos.com/

In the news

In April 2009, videos depicting two Domino's employees in Conover, North Carolina tampering with customer food were uploaded to YouTube.

Ex-Domino's employees arrested for tampering with food after YouTube video goes viral, Ann Arbor News, April 2009

"The positive thing about this, if there is one, is that the vast majority of people see this for what it is, which is two idiots with a Web cam," McIntyre said.

History

Domino’s Pizza began in 1960 when Tom Monaghan and his brother James bought "Dominick's Pizza", a small pizzeria in Ypsilanti. The deal was secured by a $75 down payment and the brothers borrowed $500 to pay for the store. Eight months later, James quit the partnership and traded his half of the business to Tom for a used Volkswagen Beetle. With Tom as the sole owner of the company, Dominick's Pizza became Domino's Pizza. In 1968, a fire destroyed the company headquarters and commissary. Although Domino's faced numerous other obstacles in the following years, including a 1975 trademark-infringement lawsuit by Amstar, maker of Domino sugar, the company expanded, and in 1978, the 200th Domino’s franchise opened.

At the prospect of potentially losing the right to use the Domino's Pizza brand name, Tom Monaghan hired Group 243 to create an alternative identity. Later they became agency of record for the company and remained so for over a decade. During that time, the agency, led by president Janet Muhleman and her partner Robert Cotman designed the store interiors, the pizza box, the Indy race car, created and produced all of the advertising, and managed recruitment for the franchise. When Group 243 was hired, Domino's had fewer than 100 units. They marketed the brand until it reached over 5,000. Monaghan retired in 1998 and sold Domino's Pizza for nearly 1 billion dollars, but retained a 27 percent non-controlling stake in the company.

More information can be found in the Wikipedia entry for Domino's Pizza, from which this initial description is derived.