The ongoing pandemic is separating the corporate heroes from the zeroes. Now Domino’s Pizza has made it clear that it is one of the good guys, recently announcing that it will be sending out $1,200 bonus checks to each employee.
With over 11,500 employees that’s a payout totaling over $9.6 million.
Domino’s Gives Back
Domino’s CEO Ritch Allison made the announcement, saying that the company appreciates their employees who have worked hard during the pandemic and made sure people can still get their pizzas on time.
“We have the honor and privilege of being open and operating throughout the US during this crisis, and we recognize that we could not be doing it without the hard work and dedication of our team members,” Allison said, adding “this is our way of saying thank you to these remarkable people.”
Domino’s gave employees an extra check during the pandemic as well as extra paid time off earlier this year. The company has also partnered in the past with the Make-a-Wish foundation as well as St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. The pizza chain also generated a lot of positive headlines in 2001 when it gave out over 12,000 pizzas to first responders in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.
i will be sure to order some @dominos this month to help them with their promise to provide a $1,200 #bonus to their hourly workers…kudos to you Domino’s for supporting those employees that earn your revenue
— whatever (@hashtagsheweird) December 17, 2020
What’s Behind the Decision?
Domino’s understands and respects what many large corporations do not seem to grasp. Their business depends on their employees and customers. Unlike many corporate chains and retail giants who have utilized this crisis to make extra money and squeeze profits out of the struggling middle class – as well as bury struggling small businesses – Domino’s has decided to stir up some good will and make things better.
Most of Domino’s restaurants are franchises at some of its 17,000 locations around the world, but as the largest multinational pizza corporation on the globe it brought in more than $14 billion in 2019 alone. Domino’s has been at the top of many people’s lists as they have been inside in quarantine, reliably delivering fresh hot pizza to hungry folks.
Those deliveries require workers, however, and it’s not without some risk. By giving back to these frontline employees, Domino’s is showing that it values them and creating a positive public image.
‘Putting People First’
Allison also said that giving out the bonus is about upholding the company’s core mission of “doing the right thing and putting people first.”
The pizza chain’s sales have skyrocketed during the pandemic and it is in the process of hiring on an additional 30,000 workers. In total its second quarter sales went up by over 16% this year and 17.5% in the third quarter.
Domino’s was founded in 1961 in Ypsilanti, Michigan and is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The multinational pizza giant all started with Tom and his brother James Monaghan, who bought a little pizza place called DomiNick’s in Ypsilanti with a $500 down payment near Eastern Michigan State University.
James worked for the US Postal Service and was quite busy, so he ended up giving his half of the business to Tom in return for Tom’s Volkswagen Beetle which had been their go-to car for delivering pizzas up to that point. It was a sweet deal and Tom went on to make a lot of money as DomiNick’s became more and more popular in the surrounding area, buying two more pizzerias by 1965 and then expanding into a franchise by 1967. He chose the name Domino’s after an employee suggested it randomly one day.
Domino’s stock price has also gone up by more than 30 percent in this past year, proving that sometimes nice guys do win.
