1. Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut Logo
Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchise, known for pizza and side dishes, it is now corporately known as Pizza Hut, Inc. and is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., the world's largest restaurant company.
In 2012, the company had more than 6,000 Pizza Hut restaurants in the United States, and had more than 5,139 store locations in 94 other countries and territories around the world.
Pizza Hut was founded in 1958 by two Wichita State University students, Frank and Dan Carney, as a single location in Wichita, Kansas. The oldest continuously operating Pizza Hut in the world is in Manhattan, Kansas, in a shopping and tavern district known as Aggieville near Kansas State University. The first Pizza Hut restaurant east of the Mississippi was opened in Athens, Ohio in 1966 by Lawrence Berberick and Gary Meyers.
Pizza Hut is split into several different restaurant formats; the original family-style dine-in locations; store front delivery and carry-out locations; and hybrid locations that offer carry-out, delivery, and dine-in options. Many full-size Pizza Hut locations offer lunch buffet, with "all-you-can-eat" pizza, salad, bread sticks, and a special pasta. Additionally, Pizza Hut also has a number of other business concepts that are different from the store type; Pizza Hut "Bistro" locations are "Red Roofs" which offer an expanded menu and slightly more upscale options.
2. Domino's Pizza
Domino's Pizza Logo
Domino's Pizza Inc. (simply known as Domino's) is an American restaurant chain and international franchise pizza delivery corporation headquartered at the Domino Farms Office Park (the campus being owned by Domino's Pizza co-founder Tom Monaghan) in Ann Arbor Charter Township, Michigan, United States, near Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1960, Domino's is the second-largest pizza chain in the United States (after Pizza Hut) and the largest worldwide, with more than 10,000 corporate and franchised stores in 70 countries. Domino's Pizza was sold to Bain Capital in 1998 and went public in 2004.
The company logo originally had three dots, representing the three stores in 1965. Monaghan planned to add a new dot with the addition of every new store, but this idea quickly faded, as Domino's experienced rapid growth. Domino's Pizza opened its first franchise location in 1967 and by 1978 the company expanded to 200 stores. In 1975, Domino's faced a lawsuit by Amstar Corporation, the maker of Domino Sugar, alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition. On May 2, 1980, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans found in favor of Domino's Pizza.
In 1998, after 38 years of ownership, Domino's founder Tom Monaghan announced his retirement, sold 93 percent of the company to Bain Capital, Inc. for about $1 billion, and ceased being involved in day-to-day operations of the company. A year later, the company named David A. Brandon CEO.
3. Little Caesars
Little Caesars Logo
Little Caesars is the third largest pizza chain in the United States. The Little Caesars headquarters is located in the Fox Theatre building in Downtown Detroit, Michigan.
Little Caesars Pizza was founded by husband and wife Mike and Marian Ilitch on May 8, 1959. The first location was a strip mall in Garden City, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. Mike wanted to call it simply "Pizza Treat," but Marian wanted a name that would be more suitable. Marian considered Mike her "little Caesar". Mike ultimately relented, and the store opened as "Little Caesar's Pizza Treat." The original store is still open today.
Little Caesars' profits were declining in the 1990s, due to the company's attempts to offer free delivery. While delivery was free, the cost of the pizza per customer was doubled. Instead of offering two pizzas for the price of one, the company would only offer one pizza at full cost, but included free delivery. The decrease in sales caused a large number of franchises to shut their doors and leave a number of once profitable markets.
On November 1, 2010, Little Caesars introduced Pizza! Pizza! Pantastic, denying that the return of "Pizza! Pizza!" had any relationship to the recent success of Domino's, plus they deliver at some locations. In 2013, Little Caesars brought back the "Pan Pan" concept, only now calling it "Deep Deep Dish". They also expanded the "Hot-N-Ready" line to include plain cheese pizzas, 3 Meat Treat pizzas, and a pepperoni Deep Deep Dish. The plain cheese is $5 while the other two are $8, and in 2014 Little Caesars introduced a Hot-N-Ready lunch combo consisting of half a pepperoni Deep Deep Dish and a twenty-ounce Pepsi product for $5.
(source: wikipedia)
