Godfather's Pizza is an American privately owned

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

chain headquartered in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

, that operates fast casual

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

franchises Franchise may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Media franchise, a collection of related creative works, such as films, video games, books, etc., particularly in North American usage * "Franchise" (short story), a 1955 short story ...

and pizza express locations.

History

Godfather's Pizza was founded in

, in 1973. Willy Theisen bought out the pizza parlor and the name in 1974 from Gregg Johnson (who later started the Minsky's Pizza restaurants), and sold his first franchise. The chain grew rapidly and was named the fastest growing franchise by the

National Restaurant Association The National Restaurant Association is a restaurant industry business association in the United States, representing more than 380,000 restaurant locations. It also operates the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. The associa ...

in 1977, 1978 and 1979. At the peak of its growth, Godfather's Pizza had close to 1,000 locations nationwide. Theisen sold the company to Pillsbury in 1985 and stepped down from actively managing the company. The company relocated headquarters to Southern California in 1985 before returning to Omaha within a year. In 1986, Pillsbury named

Herman Cain Herman Cain (December 13, 1945July 30, 2020) was an American businessman and Tea Party movement activist in the Republican Party. Cain graduated from Morehouse College with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. He then earned a master's degree ...

CEO and president of the brand. Cain and Ronald B. Gartlan, the company's executive vice president, led a group to purchase the Godfather's brand from Pillsbury, which they did by the beginning of 1990 in a

leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is the acquisition of a company using a significant proportion of borrowed money (Leverage (finance), leverage) to fund the acquisition with the remainder of the purchase price funded with private equity. The assets of t ...

for what was reported to be $100 million. It was reported to be the fifth largest pizza chain in the United States at the time, down from third place in 1985. About this time, many Godfather's locations in the St. Louis area were bought out by Pantera's Pizza. Under Cain's leadership, Godfather's closed approximately 200 restaurants and eliminated several thousand jobs, and by doing so returned to profitability. Cain stepped down from his position as CEO and president in 1996 and Gartlan became CEO. Cain stayed on as chairman until 2002. In 2009 Gartlan bought out Cain. According to the company's official website, , the chain had 453 locations in the U.S. Godfather's Pizza also operates in some

Speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Daytona International Speedway, a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida. *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta. *Indianapolis Motor Spe ...

locations, as well as most Minit Mart locations in Kentucky and northern

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, as of 2007.

Spokesman

Godfather's Pizza is known for its commercials featuring "The Godfather", whose likeness is a

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

of Don Fanucci, from the 1974 film ''

The Godfather Part II ''The Godfather Part II'' is a 1974 American epic film, epic crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, loosely based on the 1969 novel ''The Godfather (novel), The Godfather'' by Mario Puzo, who co-wrote the screenplay with Cop ...

'', though some sources compare the role to that of Don Vito Corleone of 1972's ''

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American Epic film, epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling The Godfather (novel), 1969 novel. The film stars an ensemble cast inc ...

''. "The Godfather" has been played by two Omaha actors, the first being J. William Koll, who typically wore a white fedora hat, a pin stripe suit, and a flower on his jacket. Dale O'Brien, a professional actor since 1975, has been the Godfather's Pizza spokesman since about 2000, often using the phrase "do it!" and slogan "a pizza you can't refuse".

References

External links

Godfather's Pizza
{{Pizza chains Italian-American culture in Nebraska Restaurants established in 1973 Pizza chains of the United States Restaurants in Omaha, Nebraska Fast casual restaurants Fast-food chains of the United States Buffet restaurants Herman Cain 1973 establishments in Nebraska Pizza franchises

History

Spokesman

See also

References

External links