Of his initial interest in the pizza business, Ilitch told Pat Jordan of the
New York Times Magazine, "I was fascinated by water and flour. You knead it into dough, put it in the oven, and it comes out baked. Wow!" Originally, Ilitch wanted to call his restaurant Pizza Treat, but his wife thought the name should be snappier and suggested Little Caesars, based on her nickname for her husband. When their restaurant opened in a strip mall in Garden City, Michigan, Ilitch handled the pizza production, menu, and marketing, while his wife handled the cash flow. By 1962, they had their first franchise.
Little Caesars expanded throughout the Midwest. By not offering delivery and keeping staff to a minimum, Little Caesars had low overhead. In the mid-1970s, Ilitch came up with a marketing idea that changed the pizza industry and greatly increased his fortune: "Pizza! Pizza!" Little Caesars sold two pizzas for one relatively inexpensive price. In 1980, the company had over 200 franchises, still primarily in the Midwest. By 1983, the company had 300 restaurants and a year later, their sales totaled $290 million. The company exploded with their first national advertising campaigns in the mid-1980s.
Between 1987 and 1992, Little Caesars grew at a compounded annual rate of 42 percent.
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