Weathering the storm

Sometimes in business and in life we see certain storms coming — so to speak — and other times it seems they come out of nowhere. 

In 1988, I was fully engaged in the “pizza wars,” as we called them. I was trying to grow Domino’s market share against our competition, and I was faced with a storm that seemed to come out of nowhere. Michigan Right to Life was successful in getting an initiative on the ballot that year which would ban state funding of abortions. The organizers approached me about appearing in a TV ad to raise money for this ballot initiative. I agreed, in addition to making a $50,000 matching pledge to the campaign. 

The polls predicted the ballot’s defeat. But through the hard work and dedication of pro-lifers across the state, Michigan approved the proposal handily, thereby banning state-funded abortions. However, the radical feminists of the local chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) were furious, and I became the target of their outrage. I would not have minded if this were only a personal attack, but they organized a nationwide boycott of Domino’s Pizza. 

When I first learned of the news, initially I felt fear, and then rage. Here I was trying to do all the things I needed in order to lead this company — one that yes, I owned, but that also had franchisees around the world. Many franchise owners were very upset, accusing me and my beliefs of compromising their profits. It all happened very quickly. 

I then had an incredible sense of peace. I realized that if I was going to lose my company for something, this was a cause I was willing to stand for. 

We received many calls from franchisees, especially from those whose stores served college campuses where the NOW boycott was particularly active. We also got a lot of mail, more than we could ever tally, tens of thousands of letters. One day, we decided to take a large chunk of it and tally it. We found that it was something like 16-to-1 in our favor! This was despite the fact that much of the opposition mail was organized. In one case, we got a whole box of letters, each one the same except for the signature. We counted each of them. The positive ones seemed to all be spontaneous and individual. Still, the margin was overwhelmingly in our favor. While I cannot be certain, I believe that in the long term the boycott likely helped us because we became the pizza of choice for pro-lifers around the country. 

This was not the kind of publicity I was looking for, nor a fight I wanted to be engaged in. However, it taught me the importance of being clear about my convictions, and that once I have that clarity, I need to be ready to weather whatever storm may come.