Pizza Tiger

Tom Monaghan’s own account of building Domino’s Pizza from a single failing Michigan storefront bought in 1960 into a national franchise system — the deliberate narrowing of the menu to pizza and delivery, the unit economics of a thirty-minute promise, the franchising fights, the trademark suit brought by Domino Sugar, and the near-bankruptcy and partnership collapse he worked through along the way.

Why it’s on the list: One of the 46 books @mastersinvest read in 2025 — a founder telling the operating story of a franchise business from the inside, which is most of what this list is.

Where I saw it: @mastersinvest’s “2025 Reading … so far” list, August 20, 2025, annotated “Domino’s — Tom Monaghan”. The full 46-title list is transcribed on 2025 Reading So Far… (tweet).

Connections

• 2025 Reading So Far… (tweet) — the list this came from.