Passion for Pizza
Greg Neichter’s pizzeria empire began with downtown Domino’s
The traffic at the intersection of the MU campus and downtown made it hard to hear, so Neichter just talked rapid-fire at the top of his lungs.
This, after all, is a subject he’s passionate about — pizza, or more specifically, how the business has changed since he opened a Domino’s in the tiny building behind him on Aug. 18, 1980.
“At that time, we had two sizes (of pizzas), 12-inch and 16-inch, 12 toppings and Cokes — in cans; that’s all,” said Neichter, during a photo session to mark the 30th anniversary of his first franchise, now one of 35 Domino’s Pizza outlets he owns in Missouri and his native Kentucky.
Then he grabbed a menu and circled what they had in 1980, just to make sure the reporter gets it right. He’s like that; Neichter leaves nothing to chance.
On opening day, Neichter said, “We sold one pizza and one soda.”
But lackluster sales were anticipated. He timed the opening to fall between the end of summer school and the beginning of the fall term so his delivery team and staff could work out any problems before business got busy.
As Neichter talks pizza and Domino’s, he pauses only to check in with his children: Eileen, 23, who graduated from MU in May with a business degree and is now the marketing director for his company; Peter, 21, who is a junior at MU and studying restaurant and hotel management; and Patrick, a sophomore at MU who apparently is the black sheep of the family because he wants to join the Marines.
“I’m not pushing them into the business,” Neichter said. Clearly, though, he wants them to love it as much as he does.
The next time he pauses is to order a pizza with his favorite toppings — pepperoni, sausage, bacon, mushroom and extra cheese — along with one of Domino’s newest offerings, Chocolate Lava Crunch Cakes, which he offers to the reporter. It never hurts to try to make one more convert.
Neichter was 22 when he signed a contract to open the Columbia outlet; he was the youngest franchisee in the Domino’s chain at the time.
At first, no bank wanted to take a chance on him, and even his attorney was against the idea.
Boone County National Bank turned him down when he asked to borrow money to help cover the costs of his proposed enterprise. Then he got backing from the Small Business Administration, returned to BCNB, applied again and got a $50,000 loan. Neichter said the loan officer told him they were impressed by his persistence.
His attorney, Bruce Beckett with Smith Lewis LLP in Columbia, told him not to sign the franchise agreement. It was too restrictive, Beckett said at the time, and Neichter had no assurance that Domino’s would renew the contract after the first 10-year period.
Beckett said Neichter told him he’d be so successful in 10 years, Domino’s would be glad to renew the contract. Ten years and 10 Domino’s openings later, Beckett said Neichter called him to remind him of his prediction. Today, Beckett looks back on Neichter’s success and says it was like letting a racehorse out of the gate. “Greg was off and running,” he said.
Neichter now owns four Domino’s Pizza outlets in Columbia, which sell about 7,000 pizzas a week; one in Fulton; 15 in the St. Louis area; and 15 in the Louisville area. His company ranks 11th in franchisee size at Domino’s. He also owns 17 pieces of commercial property, including several sites in Columbia and a large residential development in Wildwood, Mo.
But in 1980, he was so eager to open his first restaurant that he helped move lumber and debris around the former gas station to hurry the renovation along. After all, he had that $50,000 loan hanging over his head, and he was eager to pay it off.
In the 30 years since then, he hasn’t changed much.
When asked if he still likes pizza, his daughter, Eileen, answers for him and shrieks with laughter: “He eats it almost every day. He loves pizza.”
Neichter admits to eating pizza five or six times a week. What about his cholesterol? He said it’s good. And at age 52, he looks fit and trim, so he must be burning a lot of calories.
Yet, his success has had its price. Fifteen years ago, when he was working 65 to 75 hours a week, he and his wife divorced. He met her while she was waiting tables part time at the Heidelberg restaurant next door and attending MU. He decided after the split that he needed to hire a marketing director, which Neichter said cut his workload in half.
These days, he also knows how to relax. He likes to hunt and fish with his children and owns four boats, one of which is named “Having Some Fun.” The family also takes ski trips together to Colorado.
When it comes to work, his focus on family isn’t confined to his three children. Other family members are also a part of the conglomerate Neichter has built. His brother John has been with the company for 27 years and today is vice president of operations at the 35-store company. Neichter’s older brother, Leo, has been with the company for 18 years; today he’s a training manager.
Although pizza apparently hasn’t hurt his waistline, it did lure him away from the University of Kentucky in Lexington. He was working at a Domino’s delivering pizza while attending college when he found out the manager made $35,000 a year — a sum equal to roughly $91,100 in purchasing power today, according to MeasuringWorth.com, a service for calculating worth over time.
“I saw that opportunity,” Neichter said.
But it wasn’t just the money. Neichter said he loved his job working as a driver for Domino’s: “It’s a fun job; you get to drive your car, have the radio on.” He also remembers the time a woman came to the door to get her pizza and wore nothing but a smile. “I was 19 years old,” Neichter said. “It was great.”
He also continues to find his job fun. “I love my business,” Neichter said, adding that he enjoys working with great employees and the teamwork that is a part of his Domino’s empire.
Yet his advice for success is pragmatic and focused. “Put in the hours,” he said, “and don’t go out spending your money.”
Neichter grew his business by plowing any profits back into it. For the first five years of his career, he drove a Camaro and lived in a low-profile apartment near campus. He did take out another loan when he expanded into the St. Louis area, but all of his early expansion took place through the company’s profits.
The results? In 1982, he opened another store on I-70 Drive S.W. and Fulton, then in 1985 the Domino’s on Towne Drive near Whitegate and in 1988 the Green Meadows Way location.
By 1985, he could afford a Jaguar. That’s also when he moved from Columbia to the St. Louis area, where he lives in a historic home he’s since renovated.
In some ways, his frugal business approach came from his family. Marita Neichter, who is 86 and still lives in the house she moved into when she got married, said she was proud of her son, especially of the way he got started. Before he opened the Domino’s in Columbia, he went to Baton Rouge, La., to see if Louisiana State University would be a good market, but Marita Neichter said he had some trouble traveling because he didn’t have a credit card. “We never did have credit cards,” she said.
But they always worked. She was a secretary for the Veteran’s Administration Hospital while his father had a job at the local Chevrolet dealership. (When Neichter came home with his foreign-made Jaguar, his father wouldn’t let him park it near their home.)
Marita Neichter said they were proud of his accomplishments but wasn’t effusive. “He had good luck, and he applied himself,” she said.
Mark Ratterman, a childhood friend, said Neichter comes from good people. Ratterman’s mother and Neichter’s mother still attend church together daily. Neichter hired Ratterman in 1981 as a driver — the way almost all Domino’s employees get started, the way Neichter had gotten started. He helped Ratterman launch his first Domino’s franchise, and now he owns more pizza restaurants than his mentor — 53 in the St. Louis area.
Ratterman said that in 1981, he didn’t know anything about Columbia, but Neichter did. “He’s a good businessman,” Ratterman said.
When Neichter set his sites on opening a Domino’s, he visited three potential cities: Champaign, Ill., Baton Rouge, La., and Columbia. Neichter said he thought Champaign was saturated with pizza places, and he didn’t care for Baton Rouge, but in Columbia he met with a lot of people and liked the city.
By 1982, Ratterman was made store manager, and business was booming. “We boosted sales and were within the top 10 in the country,” he said.
Since Neichter opened his first store, the selections have grown from two sizes and one beverage to four crusts, four sizes, nearly two dozen toppings, as well as Buffalo wings, bread sticks, pasta bowls and desserts. In December 2009, Domino’s went back to the drawing board on its pizza and launched its “Inspired New Pizza,” with a garlic-seasoned crust and a spiced-up sauce.
A few years ago, the company stopped promising to deliver pizzas in “30 minutes or less” or provide a free pizza, a gimmick that led to some traffic accidents caused by speeding drivers and other problems. Neichter dropped that practice years before the corporate office did, according to his attorney. He’d come in and asked Beckett to draw up a contract making sure drivers were not penalized for a slow delivery because he didn’t want that risk.
As Beckett put it, Neichter was always looking ahead. And he was always looking out for his employees.
Others note his generosity. Neichter’s store managers receive 20 percent of the store’s profits, and area managers receive 5 percent — amounts that are not mandated by Domino’s corporate headquarters. Other franchisees might give managers 10 or 15 percent of the profits.
Founded in 1960, Domino’s has about 9,100 stores in more than 60 countries. The new menus are credited with boosting sales; same-store sales in the first quarter rose 14 percent. In Columbia, same-store sales are up more than 13 percent year-to-date as well. The company also offers online ordering and was named the 2010 Chain of the Year by Pizza Today, a monthly trade magazine.
So what are Neichter’s plans for the future? To boost sales at the stores he has and to continue to eat pizza. And to continue to have fun.
Recalling Beckett’s cautionary advice 30 years ago, he said, “I have no regrets.”