Detroit Travel: I Worked At Domino’s Pizza for 1 Day!

As I mentioned in my previous post, during my trip to Detroit I made all sorts of fun stops and detours.  One of the many opportunities presented to me was learning how to make pizza at the Domino’s Pizza headquarters in neighboring Ann Arbor Michigan.  In all honesty, I am not a frequent pizza eater but Lynn Liddle said something that struck a cord.

“We are not fast food, we are nutritious food at a value” -Lynn Liddle

A lot of us associate fast food as being junk food, but that is so not the case with Domino’s Pizza.  Yes, you can load up your pie with things that make it unhealthy but for those of us that monitor what we put into our bodies there are ways to enjoy great pizza and still be respectful to our waistlines.  The pizza giant prides itself on strictly using fresh ingredients.  In fact, while touring the Domino’s Pizza Supply Chain Center, we got the opportunity to see how the ingredients were delivered, processed, and stored first hand.  The dough is made daily, the ingredients are sourced fresh from local farmers, and the cheese is real!

Before I took on a full day at headquarters, a group of fellow Social Influencers and myself had the opportunity to sit down to dinner with the Domino’s Pizza social media team.  The informal setting led to a bunch of random discoveries about the pizza giant such as their top grossing holidays are: Super Bowl, Halloween, New Years Eve/ Day, and the night before Thanksgiving.  The office in which we would be visiting the next day was modeled after a Prairie Farm designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  Lastly, Domino’s officially went public back in 2004.  I could go on and on about random Domino’s Pizza facts but I would rather discuss the joys of pizza making 🙂

  We met up again as a group at 8am the following day and dove straight to the facilities for a tour. I don’t know if I expected to walk inside of an Italian kitchen, or giant freezer filled with items awaiting to be thawed out and  microwaved.

What I actually encountered was none of the above.  It was a combination of assembly line, industrial sized cooking pots, and everything to boot inside of the world largest kitchen.  All of the items were indeed, fresh, and properly stored.  The crew played close attention to temperature and following the exact recipes for consistency.

  Prior to going in the group got to see what it was like be a Domino’s Pizza truck driver.  Domino’s locations receive anywhere from 2-3 deliveries per week.  There are Domino’s Pizza Supply Chain Center’s throughout the country and it is imperative to get fresh ingredients delivered to the locations in a timely manner.

Something interesting that I noticed was how keen they were on recycling.  Below is a picture of one of their recycling bins that stores discarded cardboard which is then hauled off to a facility.

So after the tour of the kitchen, it was time to put our aprons on and get to work.  We each got to wear these lovely royal blue and black Domino’s Pizza frocks, and we watched the master chef demonstrate how make a pizza.  The whole process takes about 6 minutes, but of course the novices that we were took much longer.

The most difficult part was rolling the dough and spreading it out evenly to get the standard shape.  I got the opportunity to learn the pinch technique to get the curst juuuuust right! 🙂

Once I got my dough right, it was time to load up my baby with fresh ingredients. Some of the other influencers made fun of my pizza because I put 10 of everything on it, loll.  *shrugs* How often so we get he chance to make professional pizza with all of the ingredients at our disposal?!

Once I was done accessorizing my dough, I placed her in the oven and awaited her transition.  After all my hard work, I almost didn’t want to eat it.

Once the pizza comes out the oven, the final step is to massage garlic oil around the crust to give it it’s unique Domino’s Pizza flavor.

I really enjoyed my time with Domino’s Pizza and will never forget the once in a lifetime pizza making experience.

Here are the names off the other Social Influencers in attendance:

Also, check out my previous article on Domino’s Pizzas Social Endeavors.