Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details.
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
When Tom Monaghan was a young boy, he wanted to be three things: a shortstop for the Detroit Tigers, a priest, and an architect; founder of a multi-billion dollar pizza company was not on the list. However, that is exactly what Monaghan would become. Since launching Domino’s Pizza in 1960, Monaghan has grown the company into an empire, with over 8,000 locations in more than 54 countries around the world, and sales that exceed $4.6 billion. Nevertheless, the story of Monaghan’s life was not always as sweet as the success he would later achieve.
Thomas S. Monaghan had a challenging childhood. Born on March 25, 1937, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, his father passed away on Christmas Eve when the young Monaghan was just four years old. “My father was my hero and my favourite person in the world,” he recalls. The death proved equally difficult for Monaghan’s mother, who found herself unable to cope with the responsibilities of being a single parent. With her weekly salary of only $27.50, she was left with little choice but to send her two sons to the St. Joseph’s Home for Children, a local orphanage run by a group of Polish nuns.
From the second grade, Monaghan says he grew up determined to be a priest. “I entered the seminary in tenth grade, but got kicked out,” he recalls, “I think probably because I was more rambunctious than most kids.” He returned to regular school but never managed to get good grades, placing last among his 44 classmates. “They weren’t even going to graduate me, but I pleaded with a nun,” says Monaghan. “She said, ‘Well, you got good marks in the seminary, so I’ll let you graduate. But don’t ever ask me to recommend you for college.’”
Following high school, Monaghan used his savings to enroll in Ferris State College in Big Rapids, Michigan. “I went for a quarter, earned good marks, and got accepted at the University of Michigan,” he says. “But I didn’t have any money.” As a result, Monaghan dropped out of college and hitchhiked to Chicago to look for employment. Instead of taking on a job, Monaghan decided to take advantage of the GI Bill to attend college for free.
In 1956, Monaghan enlisted in the Marines, which would mark a major turning point in his life. “It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” he recalls. “I attribute my success in business to the Marine Corps.” When he finished his military service in 1959, Monaghan went back to university, this time with an interest in architecture. However, he was again unable to pay for his books and thus forced to drop out after just three weeks.
It was after a conversation in 1960 with his brother, a mailman in Ann Arbor, that Monaghan’s life would take a new direction. A friend of his brother’s was selling a pizza shop in Ypsilanti, Michigan, called DomiNick’s. His brother was interested but afraid to buy into it alone. “I was having problems paying my way through school, so I said yes,” recalls Monaghan. With a $900 loan from the bank and a 15-minute lesson in pizza-making from Dominick, the brother’s had opened their new pizzeria and were off.
When he was a young boy, struggling with the loss of his father and the difficulties of life in an orphanage, Monaghan spent his time reading biographies of great men who had come before him. Abraham Lincoln, a poor...
“If you want to be successful over a long period, you have to have some idea why you were born and what life is about,” says Monaghan. “I don't know how anybody can function without thinking that through.” It may ha...
Monaghan is fond of saying, “I owe all my success to stupidity.” In reality, the emergence of Domino’s as a global pizza empire owes itself less to the fact that Monaghan didn’t know what he was doing, as to the fac...
When Tom Monaghan was a young boy, he wanted to be three things: a shortstop for the Detroit Tigers, a priest, and an architect; founder of a multi-billion dollar pizza company was not on the list. However, that is ...
“We had no idea what we were doing” recalls Monaghan of his and his brother’s first venture into the pizza business. “We opened up without an attorney. I didn’t even collect sales tax – didn’t know I had to.” Initia...
Tom Monaghan Video - Dominos Pizza founder Tom Monaghan spent more than half a billion dollars to create a planned Catholic Community from scratch: Ave Maria, Florida.
Tom Monaghan Newsletter
Get our free newsletter to learn more about Tom Monaghan and other famous entrepreneurs!
![[Get Copyright Permissions]](http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.gif){kind=small}
When he was a young boy, struggling with the loss of his father and the difficulties of life in an orphanage, Monaghan spent his time reading biographies of great men who had come before him. Abraham Lincoln, a poor...
