How a Homeless Man Built Domino's with His Last $15

Before Domino’s became one of the largest pizza chains on earth, it was a failing pizza shop bought with just $75 down. This is the story of Tom Monaghan, the founder of Domino’s Pizza: an orphan from Michigan who grew up in foster homes, failed out of school, lost his savings, slept on a sack of flour in the back of his own store, and somehow built a billion-dollar empire. From the orphanage to the Marines, from a struggling shop called Dominick’s to the 30-minute delivery promise that changed fast food forever, this is the incredible rise of Domino’s. Subscribe for more inspiring stories from today’s most successful leaders. Chapters 0:00 The Domino’s empire started with failure 0:38 Tom Monaghan’s early life in Michigan 1:04 Losing his father at four years old 1:32 Foster homes and the orphanage 2:11 Life inside St. Joseph’s Home for Boys 2:43 The teacher who changed everything 3:13 Baseball, the Tigers, and an impossible dream 4:09 Tom returns home and starts hustling 4:48 Back into foster care and farm work 5:21 The seminary dream falls apart 6:11 Juvenile detention and a second chance 6:43 Graduating last in his class 7:29 College dreams and joining the Marines by mistake 8:14 How the Marines changed Tom 8:52 Building his self-image and setting goals 9:31 Losing his life savings 10:01 Dropping out and hitting rock bottom 10:37 The struggling pizza shop called Dominick’s 11:07 Buying the shop for $75 down 11:13 Jim trades his half for a Volkswagen Beetle 11:40 Sleeping on a sack of flour 12:20 100-hour weeks and studying competitors 12:33 The crisis that simplified the menu 13:01 Fast delivery becomes the strategy 13:18 Inventing the modern pizza box 13:46 Domino’s innovations reshape pizza delivery 14:01 Renaming the company Domino’s 14:13 The 30 minutes or it’s free promise 14:27 Buying the Detroit Tigers 14:54 The 1984 World Series moment 15:35 Domino’s becomes a global empire 15:46 From orphan to billionaire founder 16:05 Subscribe for more founder stories