The People Business: Former Driver Now Operates 160 Domino's Locations

Name: Brian Bailey
Title: CEO
Company: Team Bailey
No. of units: 160 Domino's
Age: 64
Family: Wife, Michelle, 11 children, and 20 grandchildren
Years in franchising: 38
Years in current position: 38

Brian Bailey’s entrepreneurship journey started decades ago with an interview for a part-time pizza delivery driver job.

After earning a degree in electronics engineering, Bailey moved back home and began searching for a full-time job while sending out résumés. To help pay off his college loans, he applied for a part-time delivery job at Domino’s, figuring he would work there until he found “a real job.” A conversation a few days later changed the course of his career and his life.

“I can’t emphasize enough how good of an interview the general manager of the store did 40 years ago,” Bailey says. “He did a wonderful job of telling me what Domino’s could do for me and selling me on the whole dream of franchising. He told me what the requirements were and said that if I saved up my bonuses, I would have enough money to make a down payment on the store after a few years. I was sold from day one. I didn’t know how I was going to do it because I didn’t have two nickels in my pocket at the time, but I thought, I’m going to own a bunch of those someday.”

Bailey took the delivery job, and 58 days later, he became general manager of the corporate-owned store in Alamogordo, New Mexico. He spent the next three years in several management roles, fixing operations and improving sales, while gaining confidence and experience at each stop. By age 27, he had secured enough money to purchase his first Domino’s location in Carlsbad, New Mexico.

Bailey steadily added locations over the years, and in 2025, he purchased 45 stores in Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma to become the largest Domino’s franchise owner in the U.S. He currently owns 160 stores across five states.

A self-described operator at heart, Bailey spends several days each week in his stores, working side by side with his employees, making pizzas, and bringing out the best in his team. Though he’s CEO of a large business, he says that staying involved at the store level remains a passion. It also reflects an important aspect of his company’s culture, which is leading by example.

That extends to helping develop employees throughout their careers and guiding them into leadership roles. By empowering his team members, he is improving the performance of his franchise operation and the future of the Domino’s system. His approach lines up with a favorite quote from Zig Ziglar: “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

Bailey has helped a half dozen of his former employees become Domino’s franchisees, and he looks forward to continuing to provide mentorship and career growth opportunities for others. He has continued to add locations, but Bailey has also sold stores to current employees.

“It has been a tremendous blessing to start with nothing and do what we have done,” Bailey says. “Why me? I don’t know. I lead with a servant attitude and try to have as many people do that as well.”

Personal

First job: Washing windows for downtown businesses at age 14. It was my first taste of entrepreneurship and taught me early lessons about hard work, customer service, and earning trust through consistency.

Formative influences/events: We didn’t have a lot growing up, but my parents set a tremendous example. I was raised in an Air Force family, and my parents taught me the importance of discipline, structure, and doing my best. Baseball and basketball taught me teamwork, and Boy Scouts helped shape my leadership skills. Becoming an Eagle Scout at 16 was a major milestone and helped instill the values of responsibility, service, and perseverance.

Key accomplishments: Professionally, I’m proud to have been named Restaurateur of the Year by the New Mexico Restaurant Association and to have earned 18 Domino’s Gold Franny Awards and four Cornerstone Awards. I’m also proud to have grown Team Bailey into the largest Domino’s franchisee organization in America.

Biggest current challenge: Providing excellence at scale and quality over quantity. We don’t just want to be the biggest; we want to be the best. That means staying focused on operating at a very high level, providing exceptional service and the most delicious food in every neighborhood we serve, and maintaining an incredible culture across a large portfolio.

Next big goal: Developing many more successful Domino’s franchisees. We’ve been blessed to have several people who worked with us go on to build their own Domino’s franchise organizations. I’d like to continue mentoring and helping many more great leaders grow into great owners.

First turning point in your career: Turning the first store I acquired, an underperforming, low-volume unit, into an incredibly high-volume residential Domino’s store. That experience gave me confidence that with the right people, systems, and execution, we could build something much bigger.

Best business decision: Surrounding myself with a diverse, world-class leadership team that is driven to create something truly special. In every executive position of the company, I’ve been blessed to put on the same uniform each day with truly the best of the best. We’ve also worked hard to keep our infrastructure ahead of the need, so we’ve been ready to grow when the right opportunities came along.

Hardest lesson learned: Opening restaurants in small towns with low household counts can be rewarding but also risky. Some of these small-town units have set state sales records while others struggle to make a profit. In both cases, we did the same homework and built beautiful stores in outstanding, high-visibility, high-traffic locations. But that’s all part of being an entrepreneur: taking calculated risks.

Work week: Typically, Monday is my office day focused on reviewing performance, planning ahead, and following up on priorities. I’m an operator at heart and don’t like being stuck behind a desk, so I spend as much of the rest of the week in the field as I can, visiting our stores, inspiring our people, and staying close to the business.

Exercise/workout: Our family is blessed to have a big gym at home. I like to do strength training first thing in the morning before the office and restaurants open. It helps me clear my mind, sharpen my focus, and start the day with the right energy.

Best advice you ever got: Early in my career, I met the late, great motivational speaker Zig Ziglar, who said, “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” That idea of servant leadership has stayed with me throughout my career. If you focus on helping people grow, succeed, and reach their goals, the business results tend to follow.

What’s your passion in business? Growth. I love building and buying more restaurants because it creates growth opportunities for our people. The most rewarding part is watching our people grow, buy their first cars, take their first airplane trips to company rallies, get married and start families, buy their first homes, advance within our company, and become franchisees themselves.

How do you balance life and work? As an entrepreneur, juggling life and work is always a challenge. We’ve built a strong team, which allows me to keep a decent balance between business, family, faith, and hobbies.

Guilty pleasure: Traveling because seeing the world, experiencing new cultures, and enjoying new adventures help recharge the batteries.

Favorite books: After the Bible, Good to Great by Jim Collins and See You at the Top by Zig Ziglar. Both reinforce the importance of leadership, growth, and helping others reach their potential.

Favorite movie: I love action movies. Some of my favorite series are “Top Gun,” “Rocky,” and “Mission: Impossible.” I like the themes of competition, determination, confidence, and performing at a high level under pressure.

What do most people not know about you? I was made in Taiwan, literally. I was born there while my father was serving in the military. Also, even though my role has taught me to speak in front of thousands, I’m actually pretty introverted.

Pet peeve: Excuses and lack of accountability. Mistakes happen, but effort and ownership are nonnegotiable.

What did you want to be when you grew up? A professional athlete at first, then a rocket scientist or engineer, and eventually an entrepreneur. I went to college to learn how to build supercomputers, so I’ve always been drawn to competition, problem-solving, technology, and building things. Looking back, entrepreneurship gave me the chance to combine all those passions.

Last vacation: My mother-in-law, Rhonda, is battling cancer, so we asked her if there was a bucket list trip she had always wanted to take. She said she had always wanted to go on a cruise, so we made that happen in March. Michelle and I were blessed to spend a week with my in-laws on a Caribbean cruise, creating memories our family will always cherish.

Person you’d most like to have lunch with: Jesus Christ. I’d value the wisdom, perspective, and conversation more than anything.

Management

Business philosophy: We aren’t in the pizza business; we’re in the people business. Pizza is what we sell, but people make everything possible. If we invest in our team members, develop leaders, serve customers well, and create opportunities for people to grow, the business results will follow. When you take care of people, they take care of everything else.

Management method or style: Put the right people in leadership positions and give them the support, tools, and trust to win. I’m energetic, hands-on, and people focused. I like to set a high bar, inspire our team, and give great leaders room to grow and win.

Greatest challenge: Maintaining excellence across a large and growing organization while staying committed to quality over quantity. As you scale, staffing becomes critical. The challenge is making sure every store has the right people delivering great service, great food, strong leadership, a winning culture, and an experience that wows our customers every day.

How do others describe you? Energetic, driven, competitive, faith centered, and people focused. Someone who loves to build, inspire, and create opportunities for others.

Have you ever been in a mentor-mentee relationship? What did you learn? Absolutely. I’ve been blessed that early in life and business, mentors have poured knowledge into me. Now, one of my greatest joys is to do the same for others. I’ve learned that when you invest in people, encourage them, and hold them to a high standard, amazing things can happen.

One thing you’re looking to do better: Com- munication, both personally and professionally. With a company our size, I want to keep improving how I share vision, celebrate wins, and stay connected with our people.

How you give your team room to innovate and experiment: We hire talented people, trust their judgment, and give them room to lead. We let them find the right path to achieve our shared goals. If someone has a better idea to improve operations, marketing, customer experience, or people development, we want to hear it, test it, and learn quickly.

How close are you to operations? I’m an operator at heart and probably more involved than most operators with a portfolio of this scale. The size of our business demands much more administrative time than it used to, but my favorite part of the job is still being in the stores, working side by side with our team, and staying close to the customer experience.

What are the two most important things you rely on from your franchisor? First, strong brand leadership with a great vision for the future that keeps the company innovative, relevant, and growing. Second, effective marketing that drives orders and world-class systems in operations, technology, and supply chain that help us execute at a high level.

What you need from vendors: Excellent service, on-time deliveries, and a true partnership mindset. At our scale, we need vendors who understand the importance of consistency and communication. They help us serve our stores and customers at the highest level.

Have you changed your marketing strategy in response to the economy? How? Yes. We’ve become more digitally focused and continue to emphasize value to help our customers. In a challenging economy, people are looking for convenience, quality, and a great deal. We want to be known as the first company people think of for both renowned value and the most delicious food.

How is social media affecting your business? Social media has turned reputation management into a real-time sport. It can build momentum or create headwinds instantly. One negative post can move the narrative fast, but when customers share their own photos, stories, and great experiences, that is today’s word of mouth at scale. Authentic advocacy from real guests is incredibly powerful.

In what ways are you using technology, like AI, to manage your business? We use technology in so many ways to operate smarter and faster. Domino’s is one of the most technology-forward restaurant brands in the world with more than 85% of our business coming through digital ordering channels. Domino’s app connects to our stores in real time, allowing our pizza makers to begin preparing orders before the customer has even finished entering payment information. We can also track our delivery drivers on the map in real time and know how far they are from completing a delivery or returning to the store. Customers can track their orders in real time through the Domino’s Tracker.

How do you hire and fire? Our hiring and onboarding process is all online, which helps us move quickly and consistently at scale. We try to promote internally as much as possible because our best leaders often come from inside our own stores. When it comes to firing, we believe in having clear conversations, coaching, and documentation along the way. Getting fired should never be a surprise.

How do you train and retain? We’re blessed to have the two-time Domino’s National Trainer of the Year serving as our vice president of training. She, along with her incredible team of field trainers, leads our organization’s training program. In addition to in-store on-the-job training, we use an interactive digital training platform that consistently covers every position and every part of the business. Retention comes from investing in people, giving them a clear path to grow, and creating a culture where they feel valued and supported.

How do you deal with problem employees? We’ve worked hard to build a culture where problem team members are the exception, not the rule. When issues do arise, we address them early and directly through honest conversations, coaching, and accountability. If needed, we follow a progressive discipline process with written warnings and clear expectations for improvement. When someone is unwilling or unable to meet the standard, termination becomes the final step.

Fastest way into your doghouse: Dishonesty and creating drama. I can handle mistakes but not broken trust or negativity that hurts the team.

Bottom Line

Goals over the next year: Continue improving operations, growing profitability, increasing market share, and strengthening our leadership bench across the company. We want every store to perform at a high level, wow our customers, and create more opportunities for our people to grow.

Growth meter: How do you measure growth? We measure growth in several ways: sales, profitability, market share, and operational performance. But the biggest measure of growth is people: how many leaders we develop, how many team members advance, and how strong our culture becomes as we grow.

Vision meter: Where do you want to be in five years? 10 years? I absolutely love what I do, but we have many longtime key team members who have earned the opportunity to step up, realize their sweat equity, take over many of the stores, and become great owners themselves. I’d like to see the next generation continue to grow the business, create opportunities, and carry our culture forward.

Do you have brands in different segments? Why/why not? We do not. We stay focused on one great brand and do it at a very high level. The Domino’s brand has tremendous runway for the continued growth of my organization, and we believe concentration creates excellence. Rather than spreading ourselves thin across multiple concepts, we’d rather keep building depth, scale, and market share in a business we know extremely well.

How is the economy in your region(s) affecting you, your employees, and your customers? Like most businesses, we’re seeing pressure from higher costs across the board: labor, food, insurance, rent, and everyday living expenses. Our team members feel it, and our customers feel it too. That’s why value matters more than ever. We work hard to provide great opportunities for our team members and great value for our customers while striving to operate as efficiently as possible in every market we serve.

Are you experiencing economic growth in your market? It varies by market because we operate across multiple states and communities. Some areas are seeing strong population growth, new housing, and business expansion while others are more mature or facing economic pressure. Overall, our focus on having the most delicious food and renowned value is working; we continue to see positive year-over-year sales.

How do changes in the economy affect the way you do business? Changes in the economy make us sharpen our focus. We pay even closer attention to costs, staffing, efficiency, and value for the customer. They also push us to move faster and make smart adjustments, so we can protect profitability while continuing to serve customers at a high level.

How do you forecast for your business? We use our proprietary technology and real-time data to help forecast sales, labor, and food ordering. Good forecasting and scheduling are done store by store, using historical trends, current sales patterns, current marketing and promotions, weather forecasts, and seasonality.

What are the best sources for capital expansion? Strong banking relationships, disciplined reinvestment of cash flow, and a proven track record. Capital follows operators who execute consistently. When you build trust with financial partners, run strong operations, and stay disciplined, you’re better positioned to grow when the right opportunities come along.

Experience with private equity, local banks, national banks, other institutions? Why/why not? We’ve grown through strong banking relationships rather than private equity. We value long-term partners who understand our business, move with us, and support disciplined growth. Both local and national banks can play an important role, and we’ve found that the right relationship matters more than the size of the institution.

What are you doing to take care of your employees? We try to create a culture where people feel valued, are supported, and have a real opportunity to grow. We also work hard to take care of our people in meaningful ways. That includes a strong health insurance plan, 401(k) options, work anniversary bonuses, bonuses for great inspections, and profit-sharing opportunities. Across the Domino’s brand, more than 95% of franchisees started as delivery drivers or customer service representatives, which shows the kind of opportunity this business can create.

How are you handling rising employee costs (payroll, minimum wage, healthcare, etc.)? We focus on running a smarter, more efficient business. That means improving productivity, using technology, controlling waste, and scheduling effectively while continuing to invest in our people. We also know that taking care of great team members is essential, so the goal is to balance rising costs with creating opportunities, strong benefits, and long-term retention.

What laws and regulations are affecting your business, and how are you dealing with them? Like most multi-state operators, we navigate changing labor laws, wage regulations, healthcare requirements, food safety standards, and delivery-related regulations. The key is staying proactive, well informed, and highly compliant in every market we serve. We work closely with our legal, HR, payroll, and operations teams to adapt quickly and keep the business running the right way.

How do you reward/recognize top-performing employees? We’re very intentional about recognizing and growing our top performers. Promoting from within is a big part of our culture, and many of our best leaders started by delivering great results on the front line. We support that with performance bonuses, recognition programs, development opportunities, and public celebrations of big wins.

What kind of exit strategy do you have in place? Our long-term strategy is centered on succession and opportunity. We have many longtime key team members who have earned the chance to step up, become owners, and carry the business forward. Rather than selling to the highest bidder, I’d prefer to see the next generation be our longtime leaders, growing into ownership and continuing to build on the legacy we’ve created.