Mazzio's Corporation is the parent company of Mazzio's Italian Eatery and the former parent company of Zio's Italian Kitchen. In November 2007, Zio's Italian Kitchen was sold to a private company. Mazzio's specializes in pizzas, pastas, sandwiches, and occasionally other specialty items. Mazzio's began as a pizza parlor and is located throughout

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

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Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. The sole Mazzio's in

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, located in

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population o ...

, closed in the mid-1990s. It was first founded in 1961, when a young school teacher named Ken Selby opened a restaurant named The Pizza Parlor at 3024 East 11th Street in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

, which is still operating as a Mazzios location today. In 1965, Selby opened a second location at 15th and Sheridan in Tulsa (also still operating as Mazzios) and changed the name to Ken's Pizza. By 1975, there were more than 100 franchise locations in and around

. Zio's Italian Kitchen is located in

and

. As the founder of the Ken's Pizza chain found in and around the

area, only franchised Ken's Pizzas remain. In August 2008, Mazzio's Corporation opened a new full service, contemporary, casual Italian concept called Oliveto Italian Bistro in Tulsa.

History

Founded in 1961 by school teacher

Ken Selby John Kenneth Selby (1936 – May 12, 2012) was the founder of Mazzio's Corporation and chairman of the company up to the time of his death. Selby graduated from Northeastern State University Northeastern State University (NSU) is a public uni ...

, who ran his new business virtually alone and after teaching a full day as well. Four years later in 1965, Selby made pizza his full-time job. He opened a second location, which exceeded the success of his first. Plus, the name changed to Ken's Pizza that solidly branded Selby's popular special recipe sauce and thin crust. By 1975, the links of his two starting stores steadily grew to a strong chain of over 100 company and franchise locations, inside and outside of Oklahoma. In the late 1970s, Selby conceived a new business approach. His idea called for more square footage of casual dining space, an expanded menu, thicker pizza served with much more meats and cheeses, sub sandwiches along with a salad bar. That new concept was Mazzio's Pizza. In ten years, the Mazzio's chain grew to over 150 locations. Currently, the concept features 165 units in ten states.

References

External links

Official website

Info on Ken's Pizza, former Alton IL location
on Facebook {{Pizza chains Restaurants established in 1961 Pizza chains of the United States Mazzios Mazzios Regional restaurant chains in the United States 1961 establishments in Oklahoma

History

See also

References

External links