The Franchise: Ann Arbor, Michigan-based chain Domino’s Pizza Inc. operates more than 16,500 stores worldwide. About 800 independent franchisees own 93% of Domino’s 5,985 U.S. stores. Milwaukee-based Brew City Pizza Inc. currently sits in the top 10% of Domino’s franchisees as its 30th largest U.S. operator. Over the past 25 years, the business has acquired or built 34 stores that employ more than 750 people across southeastern Wisconsin, Madison and Rockford, Illinois.
“We combined so that we could grow more effectively,” Theisen said.
January 1995: Owners John Theisen and Doug Baretz formed Brew City Pizza Inc. to open its first location in Oak Creek, on East Rawson Avenue. They each came to the table with one separately owned Domino’s store, both located in Minnesota.
“We were looking for an area to expand out of Milwaukee at the time,” Theisen said. “We thought there were as many stores as we wanted in Milwaukee and thought there was some opportunity, both in Madison and in Rockford.”
November 2003: Brew City Pizza took its first step outside southeastern Wisconsin to open a store in Madison. Two years later, Brew City Pizza expanded out of state with a store in Rockford, Illinois. Today, it operates 24 stores in the Milwaukee area, six in Madison and three in Rockford.
September 2019: Brew City Pizza’s new building opened at 7131 W. Capitol Drive in Milwaukee. The multi-tenant structure houses the company’s flagship store in the city of Milwaukee. That unit originally opened in 1996 and occupied two other West Capitol Drive locations before moving to its current space. It has turned out to be one of the company’s busier stores, Theisen said.
“We’ve been there for a really long time, but now we’ve committed to being there pretty much forever. It’s an investment in the community,” Theisen said.
February 2020: Brew City Pizza opened its 34th Domino’s location at 1818 N. Farwell Ave. on Milwaukee’s East Side. The 1,800-square-foot store is not far from two other Brew City Pizza-owned locations, but the expansion will help meet growing demand within that delivery radius. Its 35th store will open soon in Fitchburg, near Madison.
The franchise fee: The fee for a 10-year Domino’s franchise agreement is $25,000.
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