Feb 08, 2016 01:58 AM
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The Domino's Pizza company was founded in 1960, by American entrepreneur Tom Monaghan as a single pizzeria in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Through franchising, the firm had opened 200 American locations by 1978. The first British branch opened in Luton in 1985, with expansion into Ireland following six years later, with a store in Dublin.[5]
The master franchise for the British Isles was sold off by the parent company in 1993 to Domino's Pizza Group, a subsidiary of the International Franchise Systems holding company controlled by sibling investors Colin and Gerry Halpern.[6] The company partially floated its shares on London's Alternative Investment Market in October 1999, by which time it had expanded to a network of almost 200 branches(of which all but eight were franchises).[7] Certain investors such as Colin Halpern and property entrepreneur Nigel Wray retained significant stakes at this time.[7]
The company opened its 400th store in Wadsley Bridge, Sheffield in November 2005.[8] The 500th store opened in late 2007, in Hatfield, [9] with the 600th following in December 2009, in High Holborn, Central London, being opened by Stavros Flatley. The Domino's share transferred from AIM to the main market of the London Stock Exchange in May 2008, [10] and was promptly added to the FTSE 250 Index at the next quarterly review the following month.[11]
The 2000th European Domino’s store was opened at Kier Park, in Hemel Hempstead in August 2013.[12]
Germany[edit]
In April 2011, the group acquired a majority stake in the exclusive master franchise to own, operate and franchise Domino’s Pizza stores in Germany.[13] There are currently 23 stores in Germany and Domino’s plans to open 400 in the next ten years.[14]
The first German store opened in Berlin in 2010, and today, the company has five in the city. Other store locations also include Bonn and Aachen. The Domino’s store in Cologne was one of three stores opening on that day, which were recognised as the 5, 000th international store for Domino’s Pizza Inc. The other two 5, 000th stores were Rio de Janeiro, Brazil & Penang, Malaysia.[15]
