Marco's Pizza, operated by Marco's Franchising, LLC, is an American restaurant chain and interstate franchise based in Toledo,

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, that specializes in

Italian-American cuisine Italian-American cuisine () is a style of Italian cuisine adapted throughout the United States. Italian-American food has been shaped throughout history by various waves of immigrants and their descendants, called Italian Americans. As immigra ...

. The first store was opened in

Oregon, Ohio Oregon is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States. Located on Lake Erie, it is a suburb of Toledo lying east of the city and is home to Maumee Bay State Park. The population was 19,950 at the 2020 census. History Oregon was once part o ...

, on Starr Avenue. It was founded by Italian

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

Pasquale "Pat" Giammarco on February 18, 1978. As of July 2024, Marco's has opened over 1000 stores in the United States (including Puerto Rico), as well as in the Bahamas, India and Mexico. In recent years, Marco's has been expanding, with its 1000th store opening in Kissimmee, Florida on October 21, 2020. In 2016, Marco's Pizza was ranked at #10 on the ''Pizza Today'' list of the Top 100 Pizza Companies in the United States. The company was also named one of ''Marketing Quarterly''s Top 25 Pizza Chains and named by ''Franchising World'' as number eight on the magazine's list of "Fast and Serious Growth Franchises".

History

Founding

Born in

Sulmona Sulmona (; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of L'Aquila, in the Italy, Italian region of Abruzzo. It is located in the Valle Peligna, a plain once occupied by a lake that disappeared in prehistoric times. In the ancient era, it was ...

, Italy, Pasquale "Pat" Giammarco is the founder of Marco's Pizza. Giammarco moved to the United States from the

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, ; ; , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; ), historically also known as Abruzzi, is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy with an area of 10,763 square km (4,156 sq mi) and a population of 1.3 million. It is divided into four ...

region of Italy when he was nine years old and grew up in

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Dearborn borders Detroit to the south and west, roughly west of downtown Detroit. In the 2020 United States ...

, where he worked in his family's pizzeria. He and his father made the sauce recipe that is used in Marco's Pizza locations.

Modern history

In 2002, restaurant industry expert Jack Butorac was asked to analyze three restaurant concepts as potential growth opportunities, including Marco's Pizza. He traveled through Ohio and stopped at five Marco's Pizza stores in different cities along his route. He found different exteriors and inconsistent branding, but pizza that was the same at each location. "It was delicious," he told the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' in a 2014 interview. A veteran of large franchise operations, he saw the possibilities in this regional brand. "What iammarcodidn't have was how to brand it and differentiate it from other brands out there," Butorac told ''Pizza Marketplace'' in an interview. Butorac began working as a consultant with Giammarco and soon began negotiations to purchase the franchising rights to Marco's Pizza. He assumed leadership of the company in January 2004 with a vision to take Marco's Pizza national. In 2005, nationwide expansion began. Marco's experienced rapid expansion under Butorac's leadership. Since he has owned the company, it has more than doubled in size and expanded to over 35 states, Puerto Rico,

the Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...

, and India. Butorac was presented with the prestigious Golden Chain award, a lifetime-achievement award in the restaurant business, by '' Restaurant News'' in July 2017. Marco's Pizza and its president, Bryon Stephens, were featured on the January 29, 2016, episode of the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

television program ''

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 ...

''. The episode won its time slot in the TV ratings with 7.3 million viewers.

Family Video partnership

In 2013, following the continued decline of competing video rental stores,

Family Video Family Video Movie Club Inc. was an American brick and mortar video rental chain serving the United States and Canada. It was the flagship business of the Family Owned, family-owned company Highland Ventures, which is Headquarters, headquarter ...

formed a partnership with Marco's Pizza, providing space for the franchise in many of its stores. The company used the partnership as a way to deliver video rentals with pizza orders. After 10 years this partnership came to a close following Family Video going out of business.

The Marco's Pizza menu is available for delivery or take-out, while some locations offer dine-in and catering options. The menu includes pizza, subs, wings, salads, CheezyBread, CinnaSquares, pizza bowls, and co-branded Ghirardelli brownies. Some of Marco's specialty pizzas include White Cheezy, for which the pizza company won a gourmet competition in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Among the unusual and specialty pizzas found at various times on the Marco's Pizza menu are Chicken Florentine, Pepperoni Magnifico, Chicken Fresco, Spicy Fresco, and Double Pepperoni Spicy Fresco pizzas. The signature ingredient of the Fresco pizzas is Marco's special

giardiniera ''Giardiniera'' (, ) is an Italian cuisine, Italian relish of pickling, pickled vegetables in vinegar or cooking oil, oil. Varieties and uses Italian ''giardiniera'' is also called ''sottaceti'' (), a common term for pickled foods. It is typi ...

, an authentic Italian pepper relish.

2017 accolades and ratings

Marco's Pizza is currently listed at #8 in ''Pizza Today''s Top 100 Pizza Chains for 2017 and was named by ''Franchise Times'' as number eight on the magazine's list of Fast and Serious growth franchises. In 2012, Marco's Pizza partnered with privately held movie rental chain

to open Marco's locations sharing a building with as many as 350 Family Video stores. In 2014, Marco's Pizza was named the #3 best pizza chain by ''

Consumer Reports Consumer Reports (CR), formerly Consumers Union (CU), is an American nonprofit consumer organization dedicated to independent product testing, investigative journalism, consumer-oriented research, public education, and consumer advocacy. Founded ...

'' magazine on its list of Best and Worst Fast Food Restaurants in America based on survey results. It was the first time Marco's Pizza had ever appeared on this list.

References

External links

* {{Restaurants in Ohio Italian-American cuisine Italian-American culture in Ohio Pizza chains of the United States Pizza franchises Restaurants established in 1978 Restaurants in Ohio Companies based in Toledo, Ohio 1978 establishments in Ohio Regional restaurant chains in the United States American companies established in 1978