Domino's Pizza
Domino's Pizza, Inc. i (simply known as Domino's) is an American restaurant chain and international franchise pizza delivery corporation headquartered at the Domino Farms Office Park (the campus being owned by Domino's Pizza co-founder Tom Monaghan) in Ann Arbor Charter Township, Michigan, United States, near Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1960, Domino's is the second-largest pizza chain in the United States (after Pizza Hut) and the largest worldwide, with more than 10,000 corporate and franchised stores in 70 countries. Domino's Pizza was sold to Bain Capital in 1998 and went public in 2004.
History
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 postman 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.