Background
Becoming Your Own Boss
If you're thinking about becoming your own boss, you're in the right place! Here at Domino's Pizza, we believe that every enterprising individual can find the franchise opportunity to suit their lifestyle, personality and circumstances. All it takes is the right research.
This section of our website is designed to help you find out if Domino's is the right franchise for you.
The Domino's Franchise Story
Domino’s Pizza was founded in 1960 by a man called Tom Monaghan whose original goal was to open three pizza delivery stores. That’s why there are three dots on our logo. Despite a lot of struggles along the way, hard work and integrity paid off for Tom. His modest plan grew into something far bigger and more successful than he could have ever imagined and, as a result, Domino’s Pizza has made success a possibility for thousands of other people too. By franchising Tom’s pizza delivery model to like-minded entrepreneurs, Domino’s Pizza has become the world leader in pizza delivery and one of the most successful franchise businesses in the world. The company is still growing today with more than 8,000 stores in 50+ international markets.
As well as instilling a commitment to outstanding product, service, image and safety, Tom also encouraged all Domino’s Pizza franchisees to foster positive relationships with the communities they serve, delivering local people something more than just great tasting pizza. A promise to uphold this commitment to the community is something that Domino’s Pizza actively seeks from franchisees. Every franchisee who strives to follow in Tom’s footsteps must remember that franchising with Domino’s Pizza is not simply an investment of money - it’s an investment of time, energy and passion too.
Domino’s Pizza Group (DPG) is what’s known as a ‘master franchisee’. This means that Domino’s Pizza Inc. (the brand owner, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA) has granted DPG exclusive rights to own, operate and franchise Domino’s Pizza stores in the UK and Ireland. DPG is a Public Limited Company whose stock is now traded on the London Stock Exchange and is currently within the FTSE 250.
Domino's has an impressive track record in the UK and Ireland. Its real success in these markets began in the mid 1990s when the master franchise for the brand was acquired by the Halpern brothers who have enjoyed a long and successful career in franchising. Through the brothers' creation of Milton Keynes based Domino’s Pizza Group, and with the backing of a strong and local leadership team, the company’s franchisees benefited from hands-on support and a structure that allowed for close management of the brand and the system.
Our Product and Service
Domino’s Pizza is a pizza delivery service. We’re not a fast food joint (we deliver good, fresh food fast), we’re not a takeaway (on average, only 30% of our pizzas are collected) and we’re not a restaurant (our stores don’t have eat-in facilities). Domino’s exists to fulfil a basic need for our customers - to provide a high quality, freshly prepared, hot meal delivered on time, every time. And if you consider that each of our pizzas is made to order from fine and fresh ingredients, you can see why they call us “the pizza delivery experts”.
If you find this all a bit daunting, don’t worry. Our world-class training programmes, coupled with the consistent food quality that comes courtesy of our award winning foodservice team, means that franchisees are equipped with the skills and ingredients that they need to become pizza delivery experts in their own right.
Domino’s is also quick to innovate when it comes to making our customers’ experience more convenient and enjoyable. We were the first pizza delivery company to offer nationwide online and interactive TV ordering and the first to use heated delivery bags. We continue to introduce new and exciting technology designed
with both customers and profits in mind.
Our Brand
To protect the investment of our franchisees and shareholders, and the jobs of our team members, DPG invests a lot of time and money in upholding the positive reputation of our brand. Our brand marketing activity is financed through a National Advertising Fund (NAF) which is made up of franchisee contributions. We carefully select targeted marketing campaigns that talk to our core audience of 18-35 year olds in order to secure the best possible return on our franchisees’ money. We have a lot of fun with our brand marketing. Whether it's our sponsorship of Britain's Got Talent, an innovative new product, new direct mail techniques or the launch of our text ordering service, we find ways to set Domino’s Pizza apart from the competition and strengthen our position as the pizza delivery experts.
Supporting Franchisees
Franchisees are both DPG’s customers and business partners. It is DPG’s job to support franchisees and in-store teams in their efforts to run profitable Domino’s Pizza businesses and to ensure that high brand standards are achieved at all stores. To do this, DPG employs a team of over 250 people who work in a range of store support functions at locations in the UK (Milton Keynes and Penrith) and Ireland (Naas).
We want our franchisees to achieve customer satisfaction through operational excellence, strong sales and great profits. Each member of the DPG support team has this goal in mind and it guides their decision making every day. DPG operates service level agreements which clearly set out the high standards of service and support that
we promise to deliver to every franchisee who chooses to invest in setting up their own Domino’s Pizza business.
The DPG functions that provide the majority of regular and visible support to franchisees - information systems, foodservice, flawless execution (training and operations) and marketing - are accountable, transparent and managed by skilled and experienced people who are motivated to make our franchisees successful.
When you sign up to franchise with Domino’s Pizza, you’ll take part in a four week intensive Franchise Development Programme. This training course is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills that you need to run a successful Domino’s Pizza delivery business. Covering everything from pizza making and people management to customer service and computer systems, we’ll make sure that you’re ready to open your first store.
