LEAMINGTON, Ontario, May 12 /CNW/ — Domino’s Pizza (NYSE: DPZ), the recognized world leader in pizza delivery, this month celebrates its 25th anniversary in Canada and Mike Schlater, who opened the first Domino’s Pizza store outside the United States on May 12, 1983, is celebrating his homecoming after recently being named president of the Master Franchise.
    Today, Domino’s Pizza stores throughout Canada will be donating $2.50 per order to local charities in celebration of the 25th anniversary.    Founded in 1960 in the U.S. college town of Ypsilanti, Michigan, Domino’s Pizza grew slowly but steadily throughout the United States in its first 20 years, but it was a pioneering young entrepreneur who saw the potential to deliver pizza to hungry customers in Canada. Mike Schlater, originally from Ohio, opened his first store in Winnipeg, thus turning Domino’s Pizza into an
international enterprise, which today has more than 8,600 stores in more than 55 countries.

    In 2008, Domino’s Pizza of Canada Ltd. is a system comprised of 140 individual franchise owners, who operate a combined 280 stores. Domino’s Pizza has a presence in every province, and two of the three territories. The northern-most store in the Western Hemisphere is in Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories. Delivery personnel there can often be seen making deliveries via snowmobile when the weather dictates. The store that lays claim to being the “most remote” Domino’s Pizza store in Canada is in Whitehorse, Yukon.

    Schlater, who operated stores in Canada for several years before becoming a multi-store franchisee with stores across the U.S., recently returned to Canada after being named President of Domino’s Pizza Canada Ltd., which is now based in Leamington, Ontario.
    “I feel like I’ve come full circle,” said Schlater. “It’s hard to believe that 25 years ago, I was just opening that first store in Winnipeg and now, I’ve got the pleasure of leading this great company into the next quarter century. We’ve had our ups and downs over the years, but the strength of our system is in our business model and in our franchisees. I see great things in store for us.”

    Schlater noted that Domino’s Pizza is looking to build momentum by opening at least 75 stores within the next five years, with the goal of having at least 350 Domino’s Pizza stores operating by the end of 2013, the year in which Domino’s Pizza of Canada will be celebrating its 30th anniversary.

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U.S. chain Papa John’s International Inc. plans to grab a bigger slice of the extremely competitive Canadian pizza market, announcing yesterday it will open 57 new locations across the country beginning this year.

The company, which bills itself as the world’s third-largest pizza company, currently operates 14 locations in Western Canada and says Canada is a target for international growth. The restaurants will be built under development agreements with franchise groups in different parts of the country.

“Canada is a key focus area for our international expansion,” chief financial officer David Flanery said in a release. “And these multiunit franchise operators will help us further establish a strong foothold in that country.”

Papa John’s is beefing up in Canada as domestic pizza companies are already aggressively expanding into each others’ territories.

Last year, Pizza Pizza Ltd. announced it is expanding from its base in Central Canada to Alberta, while Panago Pizza Inc. has been moving east from its base in British Columbia, opening its first restaurant in Toronto last spring and announcing plans to open 150 locations in southern Ontario.

Boston Pizza, based in Richmond, B.C., has also been expanding eastward from its Western base.

Food service consultant Douglas Fisher said the “quick service” market for takeout and delivery pizza - which is Papa John’s typical model - is an especially saturated sector in Canada.

“I think it’s a really price-sensitive market and it’s really tough to penetrate it,” he said.

“And we’ve got Pizza Pizza, which is certainly a strong driver in the market in Ontario for sure.”

Pizza Pizza operates 616 locations across Canada, most of them in Ontario.

Mr. Fisher said ingredient prices are typically higher in Canada than the United States, and the pizza sector in particular is currently being hit with by a double whammy of rising flour prices and rising cheese prices.

Based in Louisville, Ky., Papa John’s operates 3,200 locations worldwide, including 450 restaurants outside the United States.

The company’s development agreements call for 20 restaurants to be built in Atlantic Canada by franchisee PJ Atlantic Franchising Ltd., and 10 to be built in Saskatchewan by MJ Taylor Holding Co.

As well, Bajco LLC will build 15 restaurants in western Ontario, while PDR Associates Inc. will build 12 units in eastern Ontario.

Each franchise group has committed to having at least one restaurant opened in 2008, the company said in a release yesterday.

Mr. Fisher said it is important to see how quickly the chain builds its new Canadian locations. He said he has seen many companies announce aggressive expansions into Canada only to build a fraction of the locations originally promised.

That’s because many U.S. chains typically have higher operating profits than Canadian locations, and are disappointed they cannot match those margins when they expand northward.

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