Business Spotlight: Domino’s Part 1

It’s not often that the value of a business can be measured in cars. However, that’s exactly the case for the pizza restaurant that grew into an international pizza chain with around 18,000 stores in over 90 countries. It started in 1960, when Tom and James Monaghan bought DomiNick’s, a pizza store in Michigan. In 1961, James gave up his half of the business in exchange for one Volkswagen Beetle. So, you could say that DomiNick’s was worth two Beetles. The restaurant became successful, and Tom changed its name to Domino’s Pizza in 1965. From the very beginning, it offered pizza by delivery only, with just 11 toppings. This simple setup put it on the fast track for success and by the mid-1980s, Domino’s had over 1,000 stores across the United States, as well as several international stores. By the 1990s, Domino’s was operating smoothly enough to allow for some major changes to the business plan. In 1992, with the introduction of bread sticks, Domino’s put nonpizza items on the menu for the first time ever, and then in 1998, it introduced the HeatWave, a pizza bag designed to keep the contents hot for as long as possible — a design still used to this day. Also in 1998, Tom sold Domino’s Pizza for a billion dollars and retired. (Jasmin Hayward) To be continued… This article was provided by The Japan Times Alpha.