What do you think?
Rate this book
Pizza Tiger
The founder of Domino's Pizza, self-made multimillionaire Tom Monaghan, owner of the Detroit Tigers and amateur disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright, reveals through his life story the personal qualities and business practices that have made him "the Entrepreneurial Hero of the 1980s" (Inc. Magazine). 8 pages of black-and-white photographs.
346 pages, Hardcover
First published November 12, 1986
12 people are currently reading
385 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 8, 2025
I enjoyed parts of this book but the attracting for my purpose was because of the title. You would think that the book was about owning the Tigers and some the experiences along the way, but you would be wrong. There are only nine pages devoted to the purchase of the Tigers and the his biggest enjoyment was having his own box so he could invite and impress people. The rest of the book is all about his philosophies and business strategies, and all the times when he trusted people and was scammed. You would think you would learn after awhile.
November 18, 2012
Written by the founder of Domino's Pizza. I found this book very inspiring. Tom Monaghan shares with his readers candidly about his struggles and successes in building Domino's Pizza. I highly recommend it!
January 2, 2025
A good read. The only reason i took off one star is it ends in the late eighties, I would like to know more about the fascinating and very driven man!
July 24, 2007
I usually don't like or trust autobiographies or memoirs, but this was pretty good. If you're a stuggling entrepreneur, then the chapters where Monaghan describes his challenging years are well worth your time. Pretty amazing Domino's is still around and healthy after some of the mistakes Monaghan made.
As is usually the case with these types of books, once he becomes successful it gets a lot less interesting, especially when the author/subject gets all preachy about his special interests and why he supports them. But there's not too much of that.
The rule for business biographies: Tell us how me made it, don't tell us how he spent it! (unless you're Ron Chernow, who makes even that part interesting for his subjects).
As is usually the case with these types of books, once he becomes successful it gets a lot less interesting, especially when the author/subject gets all preachy about his special interests and why he supports them. But there's not too much of that.
The rule for business biographies: Tell us how me made it, don't tell us how he spent it! (unless you're Ron Chernow, who makes even that part interesting for his subjects).
January 8, 2014
GREAT STORY. Tom has perseverance. Teaches you to never give up.
October 23, 2017
Written in the 1980's at the height of Domino's success, its Catholic founder recalls his life - including a childhood spent in an orphanage & various fostercare homes in extreme poverty (the first 80-ish pages, the most interesting part for me) followed by the building of his pizza empire. To say he was driven in business is an understatement.
Very open about his personality and regrets. Humble about himself. And grandiose in his business goals at the same time. Some of his business predictions sound like Trump - "best ever!".
Interesting as a business book and physiological study.
Minus one star because I kept thinking - Oh, his poor wife! He was beyond driven at business and that had to take a heavy toll on his family's life. I also imagined the poor families of his employees who never got to see their loved ones as he pushed them more and more. There didn't seem to be any appreciation for work/life balance. It was all work for him. Also, some of the pizza business bits were boring to me. But only some. The author's infectious excitement carried the reader through lots of business minutia.
Lots of Michigan references. :-)
Occasional references to his Catholic faith. At the end, he admits to attending daily mass! He definitely wrote the book with a focus on his business (vs. religion). No specific references to FUS or Fr. Michael Scanlon. Or the idea for Ave Maria University. This book might have been written before all that.
Very open about his personality and regrets. Humble about himself. And grandiose in his business goals at the same time. Some of his business predictions sound like Trump - "best ever!".
Interesting as a business book and physiological study.
Minus one star because I kept thinking - Oh, his poor wife! He was beyond driven at business and that had to take a heavy toll on his family's life. I also imagined the poor families of his employees who never got to see their loved ones as he pushed them more and more. There didn't seem to be any appreciation for work/life balance. It was all work for him. Also, some of the pizza business bits were boring to me. But only some. The author's infectious excitement carried the reader through lots of business minutia.
Lots of Michigan references. :-)
Occasional references to his Catholic faith. At the end, he admits to attending daily mass! He definitely wrote the book with a focus on his business (vs. religion). No specific references to FUS or Fr. Michael Scanlon. Or the idea for Ave Maria University. This book might have been written before all that.
February 20, 2018
I had high hopes for this, but ultimately I found it dragged and I really had to push my way through it. So much is about the minutiae down to the dollar and detail about the very first Domino's franchises that I think only an inside, or at least pizza industry buff could really find it interesting. This makes Monaghan rush through at the end with scan material on owning the Tigers, the late 1980s pizza wars over home delivery, etc. including his own philanthropy -- but not that Frank Lloyd Wright mania from this once would-be architect. OK, so (sometimes) emotional Monaghan says keep the menu simple and be hyper-enthusiastic and get out their in the field...
December 18, 2023
This reminded me a lot of Deee Hock’s “One From Many”. In both cases, neither the companies, Domino’s Pizza and Visa, nor their founders, Hock and Monaghan, are the most popular, which I believe helps set the book’s more honest tone.
Monaghan’s book, much like he comes across, is very much to the point, pragmatic and I particularly liked the objectiveness by which he approaches challenges. He talks at length about his habit of writing extensive pros and cons lists.
I also enjoyed finding out about his spiritual side and his passion for Frank Lloyd Wright’s ouvre, something I would never have anticipated.
A very entertaining and insightful read!
Monaghan’s book, much like he comes across, is very much to the point, pragmatic and I particularly liked the objectiveness by which he approaches challenges. He talks at length about his habit of writing extensive pros and cons lists.
I also enjoyed finding out about his spiritual side and his passion for Frank Lloyd Wright’s ouvre, something I would never have anticipated.
A very entertaining and insightful read!
April 28, 2021
Interesting autobiography of the founder of Dominos. He sounds like a very driven person, whose intense focus on goals and ability to picture what he wanted helped him to achieve great success. Unfortunately he also seems to be all over the place most of the time, which makes his book resemble a rambling trip down every side road he came to on his journey.
August 10, 2020
Achieve a higher level of success in business by reading the story of Domino's Pizza founder, Tom Monaghan. Karen Briscoe, author and podcast host 5 Minute Success
December 15, 2020
A bit repetitive and kind of fell apart on the last few chapter. The majority of the book was an easy read and fun to follow along.
July 4, 2014
Pizza Tiger is the autobiography of Domino’s Pizza and Detroit Tiger’s owner Tom Monaghan. This book details the early years of dominoes up until the purchase of the Detroit Tigers. Much of this book deals with the early failures of the Domino’s Pizza Company and the struggle to make it profitable. As you read through the pages you will find it amazing that Domino's even made it at all. The early years both through the bad partnerships, the struggles of becoming known as a pizza only take out place when people expected sandwiches and pasta along with pizza. It was a commitment to quality and a 30 min delivery that made Monaghan stand out and ultimately lead to success. Monaghan is very clearly a man committed to pizza and his love and passion shine throughout the book. While there are many lessons that an entrepreneur can take away from this book particularly about handling bad partnerships and debt the overall story is one that focuses on passion. There is not much of the book dedicated to the Detroit Tigers so if you are reading the book for the baseball aspect you should probably pass. Overall while dated this is still a great book on building a successful business that anyone can learn a lot from.
January 10, 2015
The founder of "Domino'w Pizza" (Tom Monaghn) is the author. While the story of Domino's is exciting and held my attention, the book - in spots - has a textbook feel. If someone either reading the book or haa read this book, they should grasp a few tools for building a successful business. The author is a leader in business and was clearly motivated to grow his business and to come up with new ideas to do so. I found that Tom is very resourceful and is able to dig himself out when he falls into a pit. Toward the end of the book (at least the last 2 or 3 chapters), the story changes from ways to grow the business to ways that used my success to impress other people. I felt that these last chapters could have either been left out or cleaned up. Yes, there are ideas that he used to further establish his company, but I felt that these chapters were really unnecessary.
June 28, 2014
If you're an entrepreneur, this may be a 5 star book. Otherwise, perhaps a 3. Depends on what you're looking for.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews