1960
Domino's Pizza's first store (1960)
Tom Monaghan and his brother James bought a single pizza store called Dominick's in Ypsilanti, Michigan, for about $900. They ran it with almost no money, making deliveries in a used Volkswagen.
Then
The brothers split the business months later; Tom kept the store and renamed it Domino's.
Now
The single carryout store became one of the largest pizza chains in the world, with thousands of locations.
Why this matters now
Every national chain began as one licensed store. A single-store license is the narrowest first step; the public record shows the step, not the story that follows.