Domino's Pizza, Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) is the second largest franchised pizza chain in the U.S.A. In 1960, the Monaghan brothers borrowed $500 to take over "Dominick's Pizza," in Ypsilanti, Michigan which was jointly run until James traded his share for a used Volkswagen Beetle. Tom revitalized the image by changing the name to Domino’s Pizza in 1965.

In 1989 the history of Domino's Pizza was to change when the Deep Dish pizza was introduced; for the first time in twenty five years the company was being forced to react to market demand. The same year they had to adjust to change, they opened their five-thousandth store.

In 1992 they introduced their first non-pizza item; from the Domino Pizza dough, they created bread sticks.

For many years the company had advertised that if the delivery of their pizzas took longer than thirty minutes, the pizza would be delivered free. In 1993 Domino’s Pizza discontinued this policy and stated that if a customer was unhappy they could have a new pizza or a refund.

By 1994, Domino’s Pizza introduced chicken wings and the same year they expanded to the African continent starting with a store in Egypt.

In 1996, Domino’s Pizza website was launched and the company declared global sales of nearly $3 billion. By 1997 they had also had an internal modern facelift as their stores were all brightened up and the company introduced a new logo.

Domino’s Pizza continued to grow exponentially and in 1997 they opened seven stores in one day on 5 different continents. In 1998, after 38 years of ownership, Tom Monaghan retired and sold Domino's pizza for nearly 1 billion dollars to Bain Capital.

And in 2004, after 44 years as a privately held company, Domino's began trading common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "DPZ".

According to their latest annual report, Domino’s created revenues of $1.68 billion with a net income of $112.39 million, which represented a 1.6% growth in sales in 2012. They have 10,000 employees.

Pizza Hut, Inc. is the largest pizza franchise in the world and a wholly owned subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., the world’s largest restaurant company. Pizza Hut was founded in 1958 by Dan and Frank Carney in Wichita, Kansas. It was there that the brothers, along with partner, John Bender, opened the first Pizza Hut restaurant and gave away free pizza as a way to gain community interest.

The first Pizza Hut franchise opened in 1959 in Topeka, Kansas and by 1964, Pizza Hut had established their unique and recognizable building appearance and layout for all additional franchises.

By 1972, Pizza Hut had 314 stores nationwide and in 1978 the company was acquired by PepsiCo. In 2001, KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut joined Long John Silver’s and A&W Restaurants and became what is now Yum! Brands.

Pizza Hut has a variety of signature menu items that have led to the company’s massive success, including the Stuffed Crust Pizza, Thin ‘N Crispy, Dippin’ Strips Pizza, The Edge Pizza, as well as pasta dishes known as Tuscani Pasta.

The company’s first advertisement used the tag-line “Putt Putt to Pizza Hut” and then used the main slogan “Gather ‘round the good stuff” until 1997. Short-lived was the motto, “Now You’re Eating!” used from 2008 to 2009, and lately they have been using "America's Favorite Pizza", “Pizzas all day every day” and “Pizza Hut makes it great.”

According to their parent company Yum! Brands’ website, there are more than 6,200 Pizza Hut restaurants in the United States and more than 6,500 restaurants in 97 countries and territories around the world.

Last year, Yum! Brands produced revenues of $13.63 billion with a net income of $1.6 billion, which represented an 8% growth in sales in 2012. They have 523,000 employees.

On Local Cable, Pizza Hut almost doubled Domino’s in the last 12 months. Pizza Hut ran 826,024 spots, while Domino’s Pizza cleared 427,557 ads. Domino’s biggest month was March 2013 with 46,914 spots and Pizza Hut hit their ceiling in June of 2012 with 85,695 spots.

On the Radio, Domino’s ran 92,850 spots, while Pizza Hut only ran 13,281 spots in the last 12 months. Pizza Hut’s high mark was April 2013 with 1,642 spots against Domino’s largest month June 2012 when they ran 17,029 spots.

On Broadcast TV, it’s a closer battle with Pizza Hut running 112,223 spots in the last 12 months as compared to Domino’s Pizza’s 101,037 spots. Pizza Hut ran the most in January 2013 with 14,923 spots.

Posted: May 20, 2013