Domino’s: It Runs in the Family

Domino’s runs in the family for Josh Giefer, as his father is a franchise owner. Josh (second from left), his siblings and his dad are pictured here, in front of his father’s newly built store in 1995.

We have a saying in the Domino’s system – there’s pizza sauce running through our veins. For Josh Giefer, global store food safety and compliance manager, that certainly rings true. Josh’s father, Dave, has been a Domino’s franchisee for more than 31 years and currently owns six stores in the Minneapolis area.

“When your dad is a franchisee, your whole family is a franchisee,” Josh said.

Growing up, Josh felt the Domino’s energy whether he was in or outside his father’s stores. He remembers helping with box toppers at home, trying new products at family dinners and working in stores with his family.

As he and his siblings grew older, they also took on store roles like taking orders or delivering pizza. Josh eventually worked as a general manager and directly managed stores for three years, earning top marks for internal audits and service evaluations.

“My dad was very particular when training us and team members on how to make great quality products as quickly as possible,” Josh said. “It’s obvious there is a lot of ‘Tom Monaghan’ in his approach – he made sure we were up to the right standards.”

Josh displays his love of Domino’s, all the way back to 1986 when he was a toddler.

Years later, Josh became involved with food safety and worked as an auditor and auditor trainer. He consulted brands all over the U.S. and Canada until he saw an opening on the food safety team at Domino’s World Resource Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Josh quickly joined the Domino’s corporate team to support franchisees and help store teams keep operations safe and productive.

Because of his experience working in stores and familiarity with franchisees’ perspective, Josh says he views quality assurance to benefit the operations side of the business first.

“If you’re an operator first at work, you mind your pennies and then dollars take care of themselves,” Josh said. “And if you do things with passion for the daily operations of the business, it takes you a long way instead of focusing on the office.”

While Josh isn’t making pizzas every day anymore, he certainly hasn’t forgotten how. He recently made the trip home to Minnesota to help his family make 2,500 pizzas that were ordered for an event. But Josh doesn’t mind; he enjoys it. It’s just the way he was raised – with pizza sauce in his veins.

“That’s the life, you’re always on call,” Josh said. “It’s part of what makes our family who we are.”

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