Domino's Pizza

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For Domino's Pizza in Australia, New Zealand, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Principality of Monaco, see Domino's Pizza Enterprises.

Domino's Pizza, LLC

Type	Public (NYSE: DPZ) (LSE: DOM)
Founded	1960 (Ypsilanti, Michigan)
Headquarters	Ann Arbor, Michigan
Key people	Tom Monaghan, Founder David Brandon, Chairman & CEO
Industry	Restaurants
Products	Pizza
Revenue	▲ $1.437 billion USD (2006)
Employees	145,000
Website	www.dominos.com

Domino's Pizza, LLC (NYSE: DPZ) (LSE: DOM) is an international fast food pizza delivery corporation headquartered just outside Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Tom Monaghan. As of 2006, it had 8,000 corporate and franchised stores in more than 54 countries^[1]. It was the second-largest pizza chain in the United States when it went public in 2004 for just under $15 a share^[2].

1 History
2 Products
3 Controversies
4 Advertising
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] History

Domino’s Pizza began in 1960 when Tom Monaghan and his brother James bought "Dominick's Pizza", a small pizzeria in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The deal was secured by a $75 down payment and the brothers borrowed $500 to pay for the store. Eight months later, James quit the partnership and traded his half of the business to Tom for a used Volkswagen Beetle. With Tom as the sole owner of the company, Dominick's Pizza became Domino's Pizza. In 1968, a fire destroyed the company headquarters and commissary. Although Domino's faced numerous other obstacles in the following years, including a 1975 trademark-infringement lawsuit by Amstar, maker of Domino sugar,^[3] the company expanded, and in 1978, the 200th Domino’s franchise opened.

World locations

At the prospect of potentially losing the right to use the Domino's Pizza brand name, Tom Monaghan hired Group 243 to create an alternative identity. Later they became agency of record for the company and remained so for over a decade. During that time, the agency, led by president Janet Muhleman and her partner Robert Cotman designed the store interiors, the pizza box, the Indy race car, created and produced all of the advertising, and managed recruitment for the franchise. When Group 243 was hired, Domino's had fewer than 100 units. They marketed the brand until it reached over 5,000. In the 1980s, Domino’s decentralized its operations by opening the first international Domino’s in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. In the following years the company expanded even more, and as of September 2006, it has 8,238 stores which totaled US$1.4 billion in gross income.^[4] Monaghan retired in 1998 and sold Domino's Pizza for nearly 1 billion dollars,^[5] but retained a 27 percent non-controlling stake in the company.

Over 8,000 stores worldwide now operate under the Domino’s brand, with the opening of a store in Huntley, Illinois as the 8,000th store. All international stores are franchised. The Domino’s Pizza store in Tallaght, Dublin, Ireland, became the first in Domino's history to hit a turnover of $3 million (€2.35 million) a year. Although the franchise is solely delivery, There is only one dine in Domino's in the United States with a full buffet and it resides in Clovis, NM.

[edit] Products

Domino's Pizza store in North London, England.

Until the late 1980s, Domino's kept its menu very simple. Most stores sold only one type of crust (Classic Hand Tossed, also referred to as regular crust) in two sizes (large and small) and only one choice of beverage (Coca-Cola Classic). Later, competition from other delivery chains forced Domino’s to add Ultimate Deep Dish and Crunchy Thin Crust, get rid of the small size (although the small size is now returning nationwide^[6]), and add medium and extra-large sizes (available at most locations), a choice of several beverages, and side orders such as bread sticks and chicken wings (Domino's was the first national pizza chain to sell chicken wings). In response to the health wave that is sweeping the country, some stores have begun offering premade salads with Ranch Dressing.

The "555" promotional special was started in the early 2000s to compete with Little Caesars Pizza and other similarly-marketed pizza chains. When a customer ordered the 555 Pizza Deal, they were able to obtain three medium pizzas for the price of $5 apiece, hence the name 555. In the late 1990s, Domino's saw its take-out and delivery orders shrink with the introduction of Little Caesars' Hot-N-Ready Pizza special. To combat falling sales, the company's then-Vice President, Ken Calwell, introduced the 555 Deal coupled with vigorous advertising and marketing techniques.

The Oreo Dessert Pizza was first introduced in Ann Arbor, MI and was only available for a limited time. The crust which was layered with vanilla sauce was then covered with Oreo cookie crumbles, and finished with icing on top.^[7] The farcical, almost ridiculous, nature of the television commercials for the product often led the product to be lampooned by satirists such as Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart on their respective television shows.

Domino’s has also introduced numerous innovations in the pizza industry including the now standard use of corrugated cardboard delivery boxes, the modern belt-driven pizza oven, modern and centralized ingredient logistics, and the Heat Wave, a portable electrical bag system that uses patented magnetic induction technology to keep the pizza hot during delivery.

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Political issues

Tom Monaghan is one of the founders of Domino's, and while he is no longer involved with the running of the corporation, the company has come under fire because of Monaghan's financial support of pro-life religious and political organizations, such as Operation Rescue and the Thomas More Law Center. This prevalence to Christian causes was referenced in the movie Reality Bites where a character references Domino's connection to Operation Rescue.

[edit] 30 Minute guarantee

Starting in 1973, Domino's Pizza had a guarantee that a customer would receive their pizza within 30 minutes of ordering, or they would receive the pizza free. The guarantee was reduced to $3 off in the mid 1980s due to concerns over drivers breaking traffic laws and putting themselves and others at risk trying to fulfill the guarantee.^{[citation needed]} To further reduce accidents and unsafe driving, Domino's didn't hold their drivers accountable for any lates.^{[citation needed]} In 1992, the company settled a lawsuit brought by the family of an Indiana woman who had been killed by a Domino's delivery driver, paying the family US$2.8 million. In 1993, Domino's settled another lawsuit, this one brought by a woman who was injured when a Domino's delivery driver ran a red light and rear-ended her. The woman was awarded nearly US$ 80 million in damages. The guarantee was dropped that same year because of, according to company owner Thomas Monaghan, the "public perception of reckless driving and irresponsibility."^[8]

In 2008, the company again advertised a 30 minute delivery time in the U.S.; the fine print in the material stated the time as merely an "estimate". However, in India and Mexico, Domino's still guarantees delivery within 30 minutes, or the order is free.

[edit] Labor issues

In the United Kingdom, Domino's Pizza has recently come under attack on the current affairs program Newsnight for its alleged poor treatment of its employees.^[9]

Workers at one franchise claim to be victims of "modern-day slavery", according to union T&G Unite, with money unlawfully deducted from the workers' pay sometimes leaving workers being paid nothing. Some of the deductions made by the company included the costs of insuring the cars used to deliver pizzas, and one worker was deducted all her wages for the first week of work because the franchise designated it "unpaid training".^[10]

[edit] Advertising

In the 1980s, Domino's Pizza was well known for its advertisements featuring The Noid. That concept was created by Group 243 Inc. who then hired Will Vinton Studios to produce the television commercials that they created. Customers were implored to order from Domino's in order to "avoid the Noid."

In 1989, a man, Kenneth Lamar Noid, who thought the ads were a personal attack on him, held two employees of an Atlanta, Georgia, Domino's restaurant hostage for over five hours. After forcing them to make him a pizza, Noid surrendered to police. Noid was charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault, extortion, and possession of a firearm during a crime, but he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. ^[11] Contrary to popular belief, this incident did not cause Domino’s to pull the "Noid" campaign off the air; in reality, Noid creator and owner Will Vinton Studios asked for a larger amount of money for continued use of the Noid character, and Domino’s chose not to renew its contract.

In 2000, Domino’s introduced another advertising mascot for its North American customers, Bad Andy. His objective was to get Domino’s employees to break the rules set down by the company (his most famous was trying to get a worker to use a rolling pin to shape the crust, even resorting to stalking to get him to try it). The slogan that accompanied Andy was "Bad Andy. Good Pizza." It was not well received, and lasted only a little over a year.

[edit] Sponsorship and tie-ins

Domino's fleet of semi-trucks provide rolling billboard advertisements.

Domino's sponsored the halftime reports for NFL Live!/NFL on NBC during the 1990s until NBC lost American Football Conference television coverage to CBS.

In a product tie-in with the 1990 movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the pizza-loving reptiles ordered from Domino's, even commenting that the "pizza dude has 30 seconds" to complete the delivery, in reference to Domino’s "30 minutes or it's free" policy. In the movie however, the Turtles just get the pizza $3 off for "being two minutes late, dude!" (At one point, Domino's did in fact offer a $3 discount for a late delivery.)

As a product sponsorship tie-in, Domino's Pizza is also the Official Pizza of NASCAR. It sponsored the 00 Toyota driven by David Reutimann for Michael Waltrip Racing in the Sprint Cup.

A related product tie-in with NASCAR and Domino’s pizza was in the 2006 racing parody Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. In one scene, Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) recites grace over the dinner table with the following prayer: "This wonderful harvest of Domino’s, KFC, and the always-delicious Taco Bell."

[edit] Product placement

Domino's routinely uses the cross-promotional tactic product placement as one of its main advertising programs. examples include:

In the Japanese Pop star Kawabe Chieco's music video, 'Candy Baby, she can be seen eating from a stack of Domino’s pizza boxes, at one point dropping them on the floor.

In the movie The Corruptor, officer Nick Chen rings up a public phone expecting a gang informant to answer. The plan backfires when another suspicious gang member picks up the ringing phone instead. Realizing that the informant did not answer, Chen disguises the call as a wrong number - "err.. is this Domino Pizza?"

In the movie Phir Hera Pheri, Baburao Apte was holding a Domino's Pizza box. The character was played by Paresh Rawal who incidentally also appeared in a Domino's Pizza commercial.

In a The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episode, Mario is seen eating a Domino's Pizza. Also the whole Mario Bros. Plumbing is covered with Domino's Pizza boxes.

In the TV series Baywatch, there are many episodes featuring characters eating Domino's Pizza.

[edit] The Simpsons

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In the UK, Domino's Pizza has been the sponsor of episodes of The Simpsons on Sky One since 1998 and also sponsored episodes on Channel 4 (previously sponsored by Pizza Hut). In 2006, Domino's launched products based on the show such as the "Homer's Hot Stuff" pizza, along with TV advertising featuring the characters. Domino's has also sponsored The Simpsons on FOX TV (previously sponsored by Pizza Hut). Regardless of the financial support of the company, it has seen itself the "victim" of the show's lampooning in several episodes, including :

In "I, D'oh-Bot", Chief Wiggum, fearing what he thinks is a motorcycle gang, disguises his cop car as a pizza delivery car. When his passenger Lou then worries that the gang might like pizza and come over to the car to steal some, Chief Wiggum puts a "Dominoes" sign on the side of the car. This joke implies that Domino's pizza is so unappetizing that the gang will not steal anything even if they like pizza. On Sky One in the UK the part where the "Dominoes" sign is shown being placed on the car is cut.

In "Marge's Son Poisoning", after Marge thinks Bart is trying to get her to serve pizza for breakfast, Homer calls Domino's Pizza only to find out that the location is not open.

Domino's former mascot, the Noid, has made several appearances on the program. The most common being Marge telling Lisa to "Avoid the noid, he ruins pizzas"