Little Caesars

History

Little Caesars Pizza was founded on May 8, 1959, by Detroit Tigers farm team shortstop Mike Ilitch (1929–2017) and his wife (since 1955) Marian Ilitch (1933– ). The first location was in a strip mall in Garden City, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. Mike wanted to call it simply "Pizza Treat," but Marian wanted a name that would be more suitable. Marian considered Mike her "little Caesar". Mike ultimately relented, and the store opened as "Little Caesar's Pizza Treat." The original store is still open today.

The company is famous for its advertising catchphrase, "Pizza! Pizza!" which was introduced in 1979. The phrase refers to two pizzas being offered for the comparable price of a single pizza from competitors. Originally, the pizzas were served in a single long package (a piece of corrugated cardboard in 2-by-1 proportions, with two square pizzas placed side by side, then slid into a form-fitting paper sleeve that was folded and stapled closed). In addition to pizza, they served hot dogs, chicken, shrimp, and fish. Little Caesars has discarded the unwieldy packaging in favor of typical pizza boxes.

In 1998, Little Caesars filled what was then the largest pizza order, filling an order of 13,386 pizzas from the VF Corporation of Greensboro, North Carolina.

Starting in 2004, the chain began offering "Hot-N-Ready", a large pepperoni pizza sold for $5. The concept was successful enough to become a permanent fixture of the chain, and Little Caesars' business model has shifted to focus more on carryout.

Little Caesars was among the first to use a new kind of speed cooking conveyor oven, the "Rotary Air Impingement Oven" as described in U.S. Patent 5676044.

On December 10, 2014, Little Caesars announced plans for a new 8-story, 205,000-square-foot Global Resource Center to be built at Woodward Avenue and Columbia Street in downtown Detroit. The new facility will double the size of Little Caesars World Headquarters Campus, currently located in the Fox Office Center building, which houses both the iconic Fox Theatre, and 186,000 square feet of office space for Little Caesars, and other Ilitch-affiliated ventures. The plans include a complete renovation of the 186,000 square foot Fox Office space into a modern, flexible, open and collaborative workspace. An overhead pedestrian bridge over Columbia Street will connect the Fox with the new Little Caesars Global Resource Center, and workspace for an additional 600 jobs to be brought to Detroit over time.

On January 31, 2016, it was announced that the new Little Caesars Pizza Global Resource Center, has grown by one floor to be a nine-story building at Woodward and Columbia Street. It will sit next to the company's current headquarters inside the Fox Theatre. Original plans called for a 205,000-square-foot building; it is now expected to be about 240,000-square-feet.

Corporate

Ilitch Holdings, Inc. provides professional and technical services to companies owned by Mike Ilitch. These include the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League — whose new NHL arena from 2017 onward is named for the American pizza chain; the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball, Blue Line Foodservice Distribution, Little Caesars Pizza Kits, Champion Foods, Olympia Entertainment, Olympia Development, Uptown Entertainment, and the Hockeytown Cafe (also the site of City Theater) and numerous other restaurants downtown and Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit.

Trademark

While Little Caesars owns the "Pizza! Pizza!" trademark in the U.S., the unaffiliated Pizza Pizza restaurant chain, founded on New Year's Eve in 1967 (a dozen years before Little Caesars began using its trademarked version in the United States) owns the Canadian trademark. As a result, Little Caesars cannot directly use its well-known slogan in Canada, due to a copyright claim by JAD Productions Corporation. But has used "Two Pizzas!" along with "Delivery! Delivery!", "Quality! Quality!" or other such double-word tag lines in advertising and on packaging in Canada. They have used "Hot 'N Ready!" in their TV commercials for their "Hot 'N Ready" pizzas.

Franchise

Little Caesars sold its first franchise in 1962, and, by 1987, had restaurants in all 50 states. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Little Caesars were commonly found in Kmart stores, more specifically in Big Kmarts and Super Kmarts. Coincidentally, the first Kmart and the first Little Caesars were both built in Garden City, Michigan. After Kmart's bankruptcy issues, some of today's Kmarts have replaced the Little Caesars with their own branded "K-Cafe". However, several Little Caesars remain. Little Caesars pizza was also included in many remodeled Kmart locations or re-branded stores such as Sears Grand or Sears Essentials.

Today, Little Caesars is the fastest-growing pizza chain in the United States, and is looking to continue to expand across the country and internationally.

International growth

By 1987, the company was operating across the Northern United States, purchasing the Mother's Pizza chain out of receivership in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom in 1989. By 2017, the company is present in Canada (some Canadian cities had locations since 1969), Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Guam, Honduras, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panamá, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Guatemala, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, El Salvador, Jamaica, Bahrain, Australia and Trinidad and Tobago.

Products

Little Caesars specializes in a variety of pizzas. Several core menu items are part of the HOT-N-READY menu, designed to make popular items available for immediate carry-out at lower prices than competing chains, while others are made to order and customizable using an assortment of toppings, which vary by store. Standard pizza options include their Classic Cheese and/or Pepperoni, Italian Sausage Pizza, Hula Hawaiian Pizza, Three Meat Treat Pizza, Ultimate Supreme Pizza, and Veggie Pizza. In 2013, they added the DEEP!DEEP! Dish Pizza, a Detroit-style pizza, to the menu, which can be ordered as a full-size, 8-corner pizza, or as of 2014, in a smaller portion with a Pepsi product as part of their lunchtime combo deal.

Additional entrée options include flavored wings and bread, such as Crazy Bread and Italian Cheese Bread. Select locations offer salads. All Little Caesars locations carry Pepsi products.

On occasion, Little Caesars releases limited time offers. In 2014, they introduced the Soft Pretzel Crust Pizza, which was brought back for a second stint in 2015 due to high demand.

Little Caesars was the first among pizza chains in their category to introduce a pizza wrapped in bacon when they released the Bacon Wrapped Crust Pizza, also in 2015, which featured their deep dish pizza wrapped in 3.5 feet of bacon.

Love Kitchen

The Little Caesars Love Kitchen is a kitchen on wheels that serves pizza to those in need. Since its creation in 1985, it has traveled to 48 states and 4 Canadian provinces and responded to several disasters, including the September 11 terrorist attacks. Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush recognized the Love Kitchen by awarding Little Caesars with The President’s Volunteer Action Award Citation.

Veterans program

In 2006, Little Caesars started its Veterans Program, which provides incentives to honorably discharged veterans looking to open their own business when transitioning back to civilian life or seeking a career change. Mike Ilitch was inspired to start the program after hearing a story about a veteran, who lost both legs in war, returning to civilian life.