Where did Domino's Pizza get started?

Answer 1

Domino's Pizza was founded in 1960 by Thomas & James Monaghan in Ypsilanti Michigan.

They borrowed $500 from a local bank to buy a local pizzeria premises (called DomiNick's) and also purchased a Volkswagen Beetle as their delivery vehicle.

In 1961 James decided to leave the business and traded Thomas his half of the company for the VW Bug. Thomas formed another partnership and over the next few years opened more stores in Ypsilanti, and nearby Ann Arbor and Mt Pleasant.

In 1965 that partnership dissolved and Thomas decided to re-image the company and the name Domino's Pizza Inc was chosen (suggested by one of his drivers)

The logo design of the 3-dotted Domino represents the 3 stores that he owned at that time - 2 in Ypsilanti and 1 in Ann Arbor. The plan was that he would add one more dot to the logo for each store that he opened, but that idea was scrapped when it became clear that the business was becoming far too popular!

In 1967 Thomas decided to franchise one of the Ypsilanti stores and the business continued to grow....

The first international store was opened in 1983 in Winnipeg, Canada, and

later that year the first Domino's store opened on the Australian continent, in Queensland, Australia.

In 1985 the first UK store opened in Luton, Bedfordshire, and the first Asian Continent store opened in Minato, Japan.

Also in 1985 Domino's opened 954 units in the USA, for a total of 2,841, making Domino's the fastest-growing pizza company in the country.

In 1988 Domino's opened the first store on the South American continent in Bogota Columbia.

In 1989 Domino's opened it's 5000th store

In 1990 Domino's signed it's 1000th franchise.

1991 sees the introduction of Domino's to Ireland at Rathmines in Dublin.

Domino's Pizza opened its 1,500th store outside the United States in 1997, opening seven stores, in one day, on five continents simultaneously!

In 1998 founder Thomas Monaghan retired, selling 93% of the company to Bain Capital.

The busiest store in the world is currently based in Tallaght in Dublin, Eire which in 2006 was the first in Domino's history to hit a turnover of $3 million (€2.35 million) per year.

In March 2010, Domino's Pizza opened its 9,000th store worldwide, with dual celebrations in New Delhi, India and New Orleans, Louisiana.

And so the story continues... to date Domino's has over 9000 stores worldwide across 55 different countries!!