Donatos Pizza is a

pizza delivery Pizza delivery is a service in which a pizzeria or pizza chain delivers a pizza to a customer. An order is typically made either by telephone, or over the internet, in which the customer can request pizza type and size, and other items to be ...

restaurant franchisor headquartered in Gahanna,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, United States. It has nearly 200 locations in eleven states, with the majority of locations in Ohio. Donatos is also served at several venue outlets, including

Ohio Stadium Ohio Stadium is an American football stadium in Columbus, Ohio, on the campus of Ohio State University. It primarily serves as the home venue of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team and is also the site for the university's Spring Commencement c ...

and formerly at the Smithsonian

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History

In 1963,

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

sophomore Jim Grote purchased the original Donatos located on the south side of

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

, Ohio, for $1,300. Grote's business principles included: creating a superior product, hiring great people, and to "treat others the way I would like to be treated". These principles led to the creation of the official brand promise: ''To serve the best pizza and make your day a little better.'' In 1991, the Donatos Pizza in

Zanesville Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. It is located east of Columbus and had a population of 24,765 as of the 2020 census, down from 25,487 as of the 2010 census. Historically the state capit ...

, Ohio, opened as the company's first franchise location. As of 2019, there are about two dozen franchisees operating more than 100 Donatos Pizza locations in eleven states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. In 1999, Donatos was purchased by

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

in an attempt to enter the pizza industry. A majority interest in Donatos was repurchased by Jim Grote and daughter Jane Grote Abell in 2003 as McDonald's sought to refocus on its core business. During this period Donatos also had operations in Munich, Germany. In 2017, Donatos founder Jim Grote led a $1 million seed round in BeeHex, the 3D-food printing company with

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

origins. In 2018, Donatos partnered with

Red Robin Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc., more commonly known as Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews or simply Red Robin, is an American chain of casual dining restaurants founded in September 1969 in Seattle, Washington. In 1979, the first franchised ...

to sell pizzas in their restaurants. This followed a foray into pizza by Red Robin in 2017 with a test run of

Round Table Pizza Round Table Pizza is a chain and franchise of pizza parlours in the Western United States. The first Round Table Pizza restaurant was opened in 1959, and the company has over 400 restaurants. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Ove ...

at a Red Robin store near

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. After launching at 4 Red Robin restaurants in the summer of 2018, Donatos was in 25 restaurants by February 2020, with plans to expand into 100 additional Red Robin restaurants in 2020 and another 150 per year in 2021 and 2022, bringing Donatos to about 425 of Red Robin's 570 restaurants by the end of 2022. The Donatos partnership costs about $145,000 per store, which includes the installation of a pizza oven in the kitchen. Donatos makes its secret-recipe dough in a facility in Ohio and ships fresh dough to restaurants all over the country, where the pizzas are made in Red Robin kitchens exactly as they would be made in a Donatos restaurant.

Products

Donatos is known for its thin-crust

pizza Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onions ...

"loaded Edge to Edge" with toppings, particularly its large

pepperoni Pepperoni is an American variety of spicy salami made from cured pork and beef seasoned with paprika or other chili pepper. Prior to cooking, pepperoni is characteristically soft, slightly smoky, and bright red. Thinly sliced pepperoni is one ...

pizza that includes 100+ pepperoni slices. In 2009, Donatos launched a hand-tossed pie-cut crust option. In 2004, the company introduced Donatos take-and-bake pizza in

Kroger The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States. Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincin ...

supermarkets. In 2015, they introduced NatureCrust, a 10-inch organic, non-GMO, vegan, multigrain crust, which is now available in a handful of locations. Donatos also offers a variety of oven-baked subs, freshly made salads, chicken wings, shareable sides, and desserts. They are also known for the spicy pizza called mariachi beef and mariachi chicken pizza. This is served with sour cream.

''Undercover Boss''

In 2013, Donatos was the subject of an episode of the CBS reality television show ''

Undercover Boss ''Undercover Boss'' is a reality television series franchise created by Stephen Lambert and produced in many countries. It originated in 2009 on the British Channel 4. The show’s format features the experiences of senior executives working u ...

''. During the episode (Season 5, episode 3, air date October 11, 2013), Jane Grote Abell—the Chairperson of Donatos and daughter of its founder Jim Grote—went undercover posing as a contestant on a reality TV show who was trying to win money to open her own restaurant. During her first assignment at the Donatos store located at the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

(where she had actually attended college during the 1980s), Abell's cover was blown in the first few minutes by the manager of the store, who immediately recognized her despite her disguise of glasses and a brunette wig over her normally blonde hair; she was able to convince the manager to keep her identity a secret for the purposes of the show. One of the employees confided in Abell that he would occasionally smoke marijuana with customers during deliveries, for which Abell later fired him but offered him a chance to get his job back if he passed a drug test after 30 days.Undercover Boss US Season 05 Episode 03 Donatos
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''The Missing Piece''

In 2015, Abell released a book entitled ''The Missing Piece: Doing Business the Donatos Way'', in which she recounts the story of Donatos and offers leadership insights gleaned from her Donatos career.

Notes

References

External links

Donatos website
{{Restaurants in Columbus, Ohio 1963 establishments in Ohio Restaurants established in 1963 Fast casual restaurants Pizza chains of the United States Companies based in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area Regional restaurant chains in the United States Restaurants in Ohio