Domino’s Pizza

 

Vocabulary

unique	hand (2)	competition
offer	perceive	with regard
key (2)	qualify (2)	one and only
orphan	struggle	interest (3)
slice	insight	come up with
frozen	bankrupt	put up signs
fund	initial	pre-prepared
radius	grateful	make ends meet

 
 

Unique

The word “unique” in any language is a special word; it’s a word that cannot be qualified: that means it cannot be “uniquer”, or “more unique” or “less unique” or “uniquest”.

Unique is one and only.

Unique Added Value

Now here’s a concept with regards to marketing. It comes from fifty years of research on marketing and competitive advantage at Harvard University. It is “unique added value”.

Unique added value means that people buy your product or service because it is unique.

So the key to business success is to offer unique added value. Offer something that customers needs or want that your competitors cannot offer. That’s because people will pay money for something they want and need and value.

The Orphan

One of the richest men in the world is Tom Monaghan. But it wasn’t always like that for him.

At age 20, Tom was attending university in East Lansing, Michigan. To help make ends meet, he delivered pizzas for a small pizza restaurant.

Delivering Pizza

Normally, it would take an hour to an hour-and-a-half from the time a customer ordered a pizza to the time they received it at his or her home.

Whenever Tom delivered pizzas to people, instead of being grateful, they were angry. “Why does it take so long to get a pizza?” they complained.

Not only that, they would throw tips at him.

Hungry

And so Tom came up with an insight: People don’t order pizza thinking “well I’ll be hungry in an hour or when it gets here.”

When they order the pizza, they are already hungry.

They want to eat as soon as possible.

And when the delivery person finally shows up one-and-a-half hours later, they are really pissed off.

The Insight

Thus Tom concluded, “speed is more important than quality.”

He then developed a business concept: deliver a pizza within thirty minutes or pay nothing.

Tom sold his Volkswagen, then bought a bankrupt pizza restaurant. He got his brother and some friends to work with him.

The Strategy

In his pizzaria, they developed eight pizzas, all medium-sized, that they could pre-prepare.

That’s all.

So that was all that they offered: one of eight medium-sized pizzas.

Early in the day, they pre-prepared lots of pizzas.

Later, when a order came, they put it in the oven for 12 minutes. Then they sliced and boxed it. 15 minutes after they received the order, they handed the pizza to the delivery boy who delivered it within a five kilometer radius.

That is the beginning of “Domino’s Pizza”.

Domino’s Pizza

Today there are more than eight thousand Domino’s Pizza worldwide.

The pizza may not be great pizza — it’s pre-prepared, sometimes pre-frozen.

But it’s fast.

No pizza company to this in the world has tried to offer pizza delivery in 30 minutes.

A Billionaire

In 1998, Monaghan sold his interests in Domino’s Pizza for one billion dollars.

He had become one of the richest men in the world because he came up with one simple unique added value.

 

 
 

Quetions

1. According to the writer, what is the key to success?

2. Tom did not come from a wealthy background. What do you think?

3. Did Tom enjoy delivering pizzas? Why didn’t he enjoy delivering pizzas?

4. What was Tom’s insight? What was his concept or unique added value?

5. What was his business strategy? Describe his business strategy?

6. Did Tom manage Domino’s Pizza for the rest of his life?

7. What is the message, theme, or idea of this text?
 
 
A. Is there a Domino’s Pizza near your home?

B. Are there lots pizza delivery businesses? Have you called a pizzeria for a home delivered pizza?

C. I know some people from a poor or working class background who became rich or successful. Yes or no?

D. Do you have any unique added value ideas?

E. What will happen in the future?
 
 
 
 

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