Passion for Pizza - Columbia Business Times
Passion for Pizza - Columbia Business Times
Passion for Pizza - Columbia Business Times
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
18 September 18, 2010 <strong>Columbia</strong> <strong>Business</strong> <strong>Times</strong> | <strong>Columbia</strong><strong>Business</strong><strong>Times</strong>.com<br />
Ratterman launch his first Domino’s franchise, and now he owns<br />
more pizza restaurants than his mentor — 53 in the St. Louis area.<br />
Ratterman said that in 1981, he didn’t know anything about<br />
<strong>Columbia</strong>, but Neichter did. “He’s a good businessman,”<br />
Ratterman said.<br />
When Neichter set his sites on opening a Domino’s, he visited<br />
three potential cities: Champaign, Ill., Baton Rouge, La., and<br />
<strong>Columbia</strong>. Neichter said he thought Champaign was saturated with<br />
pizza places, and he didn’t care <strong>for</strong> Baton Rouge, but in <strong>Columbia</strong> he<br />
met with a lot of people and liked the city.<br />
By 1982, Ratterman was made store manager, and business<br />
was booming. “We boosted sales and were within the top 10 in the<br />
country,” he said.<br />
ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE | GARY nEICHtER<br />
What’s changed at Domino’s<br />
Since Neichter opened his first store, the selections have grown<br />
from two sizes and one beverage to four crusts, four sizes, nearly<br />
two dozen toppings, as well as Buffalo wings, bread sticks, pasta<br />
bowls and desserts. In December 2009, Domino’s went back to<br />
the drawing board on its pizza and launched its “Inspired New<br />
<strong>Pizza</strong>,” with a garlic-seasoned crust and a spiced-up sauce.<br />
A few years ago, the company stopped promising to deliver<br />
pizzas in “30 minutes or less” or provide a free pizza, a gimmick<br />
that led to some traffic accidents caused by speeding drivers<br />
and other problems. Neichter dropped that practice years<br />
be<strong>for</strong>e the corporate office did, according to his attorney. He’d<br />
come in and asked Beckett to draw up a contract making sure<br />
drivers were not penalized <strong>for</strong> a slow delivery because he didn’t<br />
want that risk.<br />
As Beckett put it, Neichter was always looking ahead. And<br />
he was always looking out <strong>for</strong> his employees.<br />
Neichter employs about 600 people, including many who<br />
have worked <strong>for</strong> him <strong>for</strong> decades in the <strong>Columbia</strong> area. Brian<br />
Brown, area supervisor in <strong>Columbia</strong>, has worked <strong>for</strong> Neichter J.P. Baker pulls a Hawaiian pizza out of the oven at Domino's <strong>Pizza</strong>.
Change language