History Of Dominos

Ypsilanti, Michigan's 507 Cross Street, close to Eastern Michigan University, was an existing site of a small pizza restaurant franchise that had been owned by Dominick DeVarti. In 1960, Tom and Jim Monaghan assumed ownership of the business. The brothers borrowed $900 to finance the business, with a $500 down payment serving as collateral for the agreement. Jim was hesitant to leave his full-time job as a postman in order to support the new firm, even though the brothers intended to divide up the work hours fairly. Jim gave Tom 50% of the company in exchange for the VW Beetle they used to transport pizza within eight months.With the acquisition of two more pizzerias in 1965, Tom Monaghan had three establishments inside the same county. The previous owner banned Monaghan from using the DomiNick's name, even though he intended the businesses to have the same logo. Workers like Jim Kennedy came up with the moniker "Domino's" after returning after a pizza delivery one day. In1965, the logo included three dots to symbolize the three locations of the corporation.

As soon as Monaghan heard the name, he was smitten and in 1965 formally changed the company's name to Domino's Pizza, Inc.The notion of Monaghan adding a dot for each new Domino's location soon died out due to the fast expansion of the pizza chain.The first Domino's Pizza franchise was launched in 1967, and by 1978, the firm had grown to 200 locations.

Domino Sugar's manufacturer, Amstar Corporation, sued Domino's in 1975, claiming unfair competition and trademark infringement. The Domino's Pizza case was upheld by the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on May 2, 1980.

With the announcement of his retirement and the sale of 93% of the business to Bain Capital, Inc. for around $1 billion, Domino's founder Tom Monaghan stepped away from day-to-day operations in 1998, after 38 years of ownership.

A year down the road, Dave Brandon was officially designated CEO. At its Domino's Farms location close to Ann Arbor, Michigan, Domino's Pizza had ambitions to construct a 30-story twisted skyscraper called the Leaning Tower of Pizza to house its operations.

Midway through the 1980s, Monaghan commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright's practice heirs, Taliesin Associated Architects, to construct a building modelled after the Golden Beacon, a skyscraper that Wright had planned for Chicago in 1956 but never had the chance to complete. It is said that Monaghan and the Taliesin architects broke up at some point during the tower's development because they believed the idea did not do honor to Wright's architectural essence. Following this, Mr. Monaghan spoke with Gunnar Birkerts, the architect responsible for Domino's unconventional half-mile (800 m) long headquarters office structure. Birkerts proposed a tower with a 15-degree angle of climb and a swooping peak, in the style of Wright's later work. Despite Birkerts's sincere intentions, the structure would be eternally known as "The Leaning Tower of Pizza" in reference to Pisa, Italy's famous leaning tower. Domino Pizza's headquarters in Ann Arbor Charter Township, Michigan, just outside of Ann Arbor, stand as a 50-foot (15 m) tall scale model at the intended site. The actual facility was never completed.

Following 44 years of private ownership, Domino's Pizza changed its trading symbol to "DPZ" on the New York Stock Exchange and started trading common stock for the first time in 2004.In 2003, 2010, and 2011, Domino's Pizza was awarded "Chain of the Year" by the industry trade journal Pizza Today magazine.

With the opening of its 3,000th foreign location in Panama City, Panama, and its 5,000th American location in Huntley, Illinois, Domino's celebrated a total of 8,000 locations in January 2006.The Tallaght Domino's in Dublin, Ireland, became the first Domino's restaurant in August 2006 to reach $3 million (€2.35 million) in annual sales.

In September 2006, Domino's has 8,200+ locations throughout the globe, generating $1.4 billion in sales.The original name of the firm remains Domino's Pizza, although the brand was rebranded to just Domino's in August 2012. Similarly, Domino's unveiled a revamped logo that did away with the blue rectangle and lettering underneath the domino. The once-all-red domino now has two dots on one side and one dot on the other, with blue alternating with red.The business did this in an effort to "expand" its menu beyond its signature pizza.

Italian Domino's franchise operator EPizza SpA declared bankruptcy in April 2022 after two years of falling sales due to the COVID-19 lockdowns. The filing was made in a Milan court. Local pizza joints and businesses started using meal delivery apps like Glovo, Just Eat, and Deliveroo, which was another challenge for Domino's Pizza. The poor customer rating of Domino's locations in Italy is largely to blame for the failure, as it explains why the exceptional quality of Italian pizzas is so difficult to compete with. On July 20, 2022, after the 90-day grace period had passed, Domino's shut down all of its locations in Italy.