Domino’s Pizza has been one of the stock market’s biggest success stories of the past decade. So much so that the chain has listings in various guises in the US, UK, Australia, India, and Mexico.
All franchisees pay a royalty on sales to the mothership, Domino’s Pizza in the US, whose shares have risen by around 1,500% since its IPO in 2004. During the same period, the S&P 500 is up a mere 120% or so.
The franchisee for the Domino’s Pizza brand in Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, called DP Eurasia, now plans to join its UK sibling with a listing in London soon. The group runs nearly 500 stores in Turkey and 80 in Russia.
Looking just at the past 10 years, Domino’s Australian business, known as Domino’s Pizza Enterprises, has generated the tastiest returns among its fellow franchisees. And although this makes the other companies’ shares look a little soggy, all have at least doubled over the past decade and comfortably outperformed their respective national equity benchmarks.
Despite Domino’s steady international expansion, its roots remain all-American. Two brothers started it with a $900 loan in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1960. Later, in 1998, Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital bought out the founders and eventually made a 500% return on its investment.
Others will hope for similar luck when another slice of the Domino’s empire is served up to investors next month.