The Domino’s in Fort Dodge has changed. This popular source of pizzas and many other culinary treats – located at 1430 Fifth Ave. S. – has undergone a major renovation. Both the exterior and interior have been enhanced.

Larry Linn, who has owned and operated the local Domino’s franchise for 17 years, said the new look inside is in sync with a corporate undertaking that is altering the appearance of Domino’s stores everywhere.

“It is a reimage that is systemwide,” he said. “Every Domino’s within the next year or two has to do it. They call this new look the ‘theater store.'”

An open format with clean, modern lines are part of the change.

“You can see through everything,” Linn said. “We started with the inside probably in February or March of this year. We have new counters, a new soffit, new graphics on the wall, new floor in the lobby, new ceiling. We put white tile on the walls in the kitchen.”

The “theater store” concept emphasizes the ability of customers to see the food being prepared.

“We have what they call a kids’ viewing station where little kids can watch the pizza being made,” Linn said.

That observation venue features signage that has a succinct message inviting youngsters to enjoy the action in the kitchen: “Young pizza inspectors, step up to watch to dough show.”

The modifications to the building’s exterior reflect Linn’s desire to make his establishment contribute to the enhanced visual appeal of the city’s Corridor of Commerce.

“I wanted to beautify the corner a little bit,” he explained. “We did lots on the exterior. We put all new cement out front. It had two steps to come in to the building. We eliminated them so we didn’t have any kind of a step coming in here. We put brick 4 foot up on two sides of the building. The canopy was just 1-foot-wide. We took it off and put a 3-foot-wide canopy with recessed lights in it. We have two new signs. One is on the building and one on a pole.”

Linn said he sees these changes as part of the communitywide campaign to make Fort Dodge more visually appealing to both residents and visitors.

“It’s one of the busier corners in town, so this will dress it up a little bit,” he said.

The booming economy in Fort Dodge and Webster County has helped Domino’s prosper locally, Linn said.

“I think all the things that Fort Dodge has done have helped me,” he said. “I love everything Fort Dodge has done – the industrial parks, cleaning up Fifth Avenue South. They have brought more people to town. That helps all of us.”

Domino’s is evolving

The business once was known as “Domino’s Pizza.” Today the name is simply Domino’s.

“Pizza is still our No. 1 item that we sell,” Linn said. “We dropped the word ‘pizza’ because we do other stuff now.”

The revised menu at Domino’s is filled with assorted tasty offerings in addition to pizza. According to information on the corporate website, “85 percent of the items on Domino’s menu are new since 2008.”

“We’ve done a lot of different things with the menu,” Linn said. “We’ve got pastas that we never had before. We’ve got oven-baked sandwiches. And a lot of different options. We have brownies. We have lava cakes. A lot of new dessert stuff over the last three or four years.”

Diversity in pizza offerings also remains a prominent part of the agenda. Linn said there are four different crust options (thin, hand-tossed, pan and Brooklyn style) and 15 to 18 toppings. Gluten-free choices are also available.

Some things haven’t changed. He said pepperoni remains the most popular pizza topping despite the numerous featured alternatives.

The evolving menu is making Domino’s popular with a broad range of customers.

“We have a wide variety,” Linn said. “If the kids want pizza and mom and dad would rather have a sandwich or some pasta, we’ve got quite a few things on our menu. We’re not just pizza anymore.”

There is no on-site dining room. The Fort Dodge Domino’s features both delivery and carryout service. Both options are popular according to Linn.

“We run about 60 percent delivery and about 40 percent carryout and that carryout number is growing,” he said. “It never used to be that high. A lot of it is driven by carryout specials that have enticed people to come and get it rather than having it delivered.”

Walk-in and telephone ordering are available options, but at Domino’s there are also 21st-century online and mobile ordering apps.

“That’s growing more and more all the time,” Linn said. “As a system that includes all the Domino’s, 50 percent of our orders come online. We’re not quite at that yet in Fort Dodge. We’re only about 35 percent.”

And there’s more to the story.

“You can track your order online,” Linn said. “When we clear it off the make line and put it in the oven, it will tell you your pizza is now in the oven. It takes 7 1/2 minutes to go through the oven. It will tell you that it is going through quality check, which means it’s getting cut. Then we put it on the hot rack getting reading for the driver to take it. Let’s say I was the driver. It will say ‘Larry has just left with your order and will arrive in four to six minutes’ depending on where you live. It’s a pretty cool system.”

About Domino’s

Domino’s is a corporate giant. Information released by the company puts the total number of company-owned and franchise-operated pizza stores at 11,900. Those enterprises exist throughout the United States and in more than 80 other countries. Domino’s puts its domestic sales in 2014 at $4.1 billion and internationally at $4.8 billion. According to a company fact sheet, Domino’s delivery drivers cover 10 million miles each week in the process of bringing some 400 million pizzas each year to customers.

The Fort Dodge outlet is among the 93 percent of Domino’s that are franchise stores. That ownership involvement by local folks is one of the things that sets Domino’s apart from the competition according to Linn.

“We’re locally owned,” he said. “Money obviously stays here and we spend it back into the community. I don’t believe any of the other pizza joints are locally owned. We support the community because the community supports us. … We’ve donated gift certificates and food. We’ve given money. We do a host of different stuff.”

The Fort Dodge Domino’s is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to midnight and on Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. It has a workforce of 20 employees. The local manager is Leslie Simpson. Linn said she has been part of the Domino’s team since she started work as a cashier at age 16.

“She has been my manager for about 12 years,” he said. “She makes my life a whole lot easier than what it would be without her.”

Linn is very much a hands-on owner and said being in business for himself has proved a good fit for him.

“There are lots of headaches but there are lots of rewards, too,” he said. “I really enjoy the pizza business. It’s fun.”