How does the story of Dominos begin? Exactly like this: Brothers Tom and James Monaghan capitalize on the money they borrowed in the 1960s and buy a small pizza restaurant in Michigan. The name of the restaurant was Dominicks.
The two brothers run the small company together until James sells his shares of the company in exchange for a used car. At that time, the idea of changing the name of the restaurant they bought to Dominos Pizza came from Tom.
Dominos pizza, which has risen rapidly and has become a brand in a short time, is spreading to America from Michigan. By the end of the 70s, they have already reached nearly 200 branches across the country and are starting to think about opening up to the international market. The pizza chain, which opened its doors in Winnipeg when the calendars showed 1983, is proud to open its thousandth branch towards the end of the same year.
Although they are spread over a wide geography, they do not compromise on company policies and remain loyal to their traditional pizza understanding. The company, which prefers to create its menus from simple and frequently preferred pizzas, has not even offered the thin option for many years, serving only classic dough pizzas to its customers. The 4 different neck options we see on the menus today can be considered new, because when it was first established, you could only order small and large size pizzas. If you wanted to eat french fries, chicken or garlic bread with your pizza, you hadn't to take your chance because the company only served pizza, pizza and pizza. You had to drink Coke with it, naturally, you didn't have ten different beverage options.
In 1989, something happened that changed the fate of Dominos pizza and a new type of pizza was introduced. This new strain (produced with a deeper mold) became so popular that the company had to change its menu for the first time in its history. Giving a chance to innovations by giving up their traditional methods coincides with the early 1990s. Although the company, which added the first food that is not pizza to its menus, is taking steps towards change, it is difficult to say that these steps are revolutionary.
For years, Dominos pizza has been advertising an offer to eat your pizza for free if your pizza takes longer than 30 minutes to be delivered. This idea actually inspired the joke in the Ninja Turtles cartoon that the pizzeria had 30 seconds to deliver the pizza. In fact, the pizzeria, which gives 3 dollars to turtles whose pizza is delayed in the cartoon, says that they pay for two minutes of delay. Dominos, which has been engraved with golden letters in the minds of millions of children thanks to the episode designed by the screenwriters based on this campaign, made this a company policy in 1993 and says that if a customer is not satisfied with the pizza, they can buy a new pizza or get their money back.
Continuing to renew itself with small steps, the company added chicken wings to its menu in 1994. The company, which opened its first branch in the African continent at about that time, is taking its first step into a new geography by opening this branch in Egypt. Another revolutionary step that brought the company to where it is today is the website established in 1996. Sales are booming thanks to the orders they receive on the website, and Dominos, who made a statement at the end of that year, explains that they have sales figures of up to 3 billion worldwide.
Dominos, which went through a renewal in its brand logo and colors in 1997, presents its customers with a brand new logo by equipping all its branches with bright colors. Continuing to grow rapidly in 1997, the company operates in 5 different continents.
Dominos sale makes Tom Monaghan a billionaire
In 1998, the Monaghan brothers sold the Dominick's Pizza restaurant they took over for almost a billion dollars, paying only $75 out of the $500 borrowed money. Tom Monaghan writes in his autobiography "The Pizza Tiger": “I wouldn't let anyone crush me. If someone refused to pay my courier, instead of calling the police, I would go there myself and ask for my money. Usually there were college students on the other side who decided to throw a party but didn't have enough money for it. If they refused to pay my money, I wouldn't hesitate to throw a punch. Sometimes pizza was stolen from parked cars. I had my own ways of solving this as well. Next time I would hide in the back of the car and wait. If the thief tried his luck again, I would attack with whatever I could get my hands on, sometimes it was a bottle, sometimes a rolling pin. This tactic always worked, it never backfired.”
Tom Monaghan met his wife-to-be when he was delivering his first pizza delivery.
It had been 14 months since he entered the pizza business. It was standing at the Mount Pleasent branch located in the Monaghan, Michigan area. It was Monaghan's job to deliver an incoming order. The delivery was to be made to a dormitory at Central Michigan university. When Monaghan arrived at the dormitory, the woman sitting at the reception desk, Margie, had caught his attention. Monaghan describes the event as follows:
“I made a heart-shaped pizza for Margie on Valentine's Day after our second date. On our 3rd date, looking into her blue eyes, I realized that I had actually given her my heart, not just a heart-shaped pizza, and fell head over heels in love.”
The couple got married a year after they met, and from that day on, they started working together for Dominos Pizza.
Monaghan had been defrauded. And over and over again…
In the first days of starting a new business, most of the partners he worked with had taken Monaghan's money and fled. The most notable of these was a businessman dealing with oil business. The man who convinced Monaghan to invest all of his savings (we're talking about a few thousand dollars) in the oil business disappeared as soon as he got the money.
Founders of Dominos Pizza adored Frank Lloyd Wright
Talking about his obsession with his brother and Frank Lloyd Wright throughout his book, Tom Monaghan mentions the famous architect for the first time in the following paragraph:
“At home, I was a docile man who ate whatever my wife cooked from the pot in which she was cooking, with a spoon in my hand. On the other hand, when I went to the company, the food I ate at the meeting had to be five-star quality, I wanted faultless service and white linen tablecloths. I had purchased fine china sets, silver cutlery sets, and crystal glasses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright just for use during these times. I don't see any contrast between these two situations, but rather I thought it was quite natural.”
The Monaghan brothers were dreaming big when they started out. One of them was a Dominos headquarters designed by Frank Lloyd Wright! Dreaming of displaying their collection of classic cars at the entrance of the Headquarters, the brothers considered equipping the garden with a variety of things, from peacocks to miniature horses to a steam powered equipment museum. Unfortunately, this skyscraper was never realized.
Tom Monaghan grew up in a Roman Catholic orphanage and founded a Roman Catholic university.
Monaghan and his brother, who built their own life from scratch, had to settle in an orphanage after their father's death. Because their mothers alone did not have the strength to raise them. Thanks to the Catholic orphanage, an experience that shaped Monaghan's life, Monaghan says he remained faithful to the Catholic church throughout his life.
Monaghan, who is a strict Catholic, and his wife Margie met the Pope in 1987.
Dominos' best employees are called Dominoids
Making pizza isn't for everyone, says founder Tom Monaghan. According to him, pizza making is like a game and those who are successful in this game get a great chance to rise in the pyramid of Dominos. “We call them Dominoids, they have pizza sauce in their veins, not blood!” says Tom.
The Pizza Giant founder was on a strict diet, motivating those around him to lose weight.
“Every Friday and Monday I restrict myself to 500 calories. I only eat dessert 11 times a year, six of which are my relatives' birthdays, while others include holidays and special occasions. Only in these 11 days I allow myself unlimited food. A lot of people around me say that I'm pressuring them to lose weight, yes, my goal is for them to be healthy."