DOMINO'S PIZZA BACKGROUND

Early years

In 1960, Tom Monaghan and his brother, James, purchased DomiNick's, a small pizza store in Ypsilanti, Michigan, near Eastern Michigan University. The deal was secured by a $500 down payment, and the brothers borrowed $900 to pay for the store. The brothers planned to split the work hours evenly, but James didn't want to quit his job as a full-time mailman to keep up with the demands of the new business. Within eight months, James traded his half of the business to Tom for the Volkswagen Beetle they used for pizza deliveries. By 1965, Tom Monaghan had purchased two additional pizzerias; he now had a total of three locations in the same county. Monaghan wanted the stores to share the same branding, but the original owner forbade him from using the DomiNick's name. One day an employee returned from a pizza delivery and suggested the name Domino's. Monaghan immediately loved the idea and officially renamed the business Domino's Pizza, Inc. in 1965. The company logo originally had three dots, representing the three stores in 1965. Monaghan planned to add a new dot with the addition of every new store, but this idea quickly faded, as Domino's experienced rapid growth. Domino's Pizza opened its first franchise location in 1967 and by 1978 the company expanded to 200 stores. In 1975, Domino's faced a lawsuit by Amstar Corporation, the maker of Domino Sugar, alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition. On May 2, 1980, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans found in favor of Domino's Pizza.

International Expansion

On May 12, 1983, Domino's opened its first international store, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. That same year, Domino's opened its 1,000th store overall. In 1985, they opened their first store in the United Kingdom in Luton. Also in 1985, Domino's opened their first store in Tokyo, Japan. By 1995, Domino's had expanded to 1,000 international locations. In 1997, Domino's opened its 1,500th international location, opening seven stores in one day across five continents. From 2007 to 2012, Domino's gradually established a presence in India with at least 1,000 locations by 2012. By 2014 the company had grown to 6,000 international locations and was planning to expand to the pizza's birthplace, Italy. CEO Patrick Doyle in May 2014 said the company would concentrate on its delivery model there.

Sale

In 1998, after 38 years of ownership, Domino's founder Tom Monaghan announced his retirement, sold 93 percent of the company toBain Capital, Inc. for about $1 billion, and ceased being involved in day-to-day operations of the company. A year later, the company named David A. Brandon CEO.

Current Era

In 2004, after 44 years as a privately held company, Domino's began trading common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "DPZ". Industry trade publication Pizza Today magazine named Domino's Pizza "Chain of the Year" in 2003, 2010, and 2011. In a simultaneous celebration in January 2006, Domino's opened its 5,000th U.S. store in Huntley, Illinois, and its 3,000th international store in Panama City, Panama making 8,000 total stores for the system. In August 2006, the Domino's location in Tallaght,Dublin, Ireland, became the first store in Domino's history to hit a turnover of $3 million (€2.35 million) per year. As of September 2006, Domino's has 8,238 stores worldwide, which totaled $1.4 billion in gross income.