Marco's Pizza is the dark horse of the pizzeria world,
with fewer stores than giants like Pizza Hut or Domino's.
Despite that, it's earned a place in the heart of pizza lovers everywhere for its fresh ingredients,
quick service, great atmosphere, and, most of all, its delicious pizzas.
According to QSR magazine, Marco's Pizza is currently the only national pizza chain
in the United States founded by an Italian. Pat Giammarco was just nine when his family moved from
Italy to Michigan, where he worked in his dad's pizzeria. Giammarco founded his own restaurant,
Marco's Pizza, in 1978 in Toledo, Ohio. But why Toledo? Here's what Gimmarco told an interviewer:
"A friend of mine was getting married in Monroe, Michigan, and we came to Toledo to rent tuxedos."
Upon reaching the city, though, he was struck with the idea of starting a pizza place there.
When the initial planning began, many asked him why he would think to start his own restaurant.
Giammarco said that he simply knew that his pizzas were better than the others.
It became a hit as soon as it was founded.
"And it's a great thing because I love Toledo. We started right here in Toledo. It's a great city."
Recalling those early days of his pizza place, Giammarco had this to say:
"Fortunately, it was as good as I thought. [Customers] would come from 20 miles away a
lot of times. And we just started opening up more locations where we knew people were coming from."
To become a restaurant franchise owner of Marco's Pizza, you must go through
rigorous training that includes an eight week training period. During the training period,
the franchisees are given an in-depth introduction to the culture and operations of Marco's Pizza.
In the last week of the training, Marco's Franchising says, the franchisee students
must make pizzas for the corporate staff at the learning lab in Toledo, Ohio. At the end of their
course, they earn their certificate of completion and become Marco's freshly trained franchisees.
Making pizza is not an easy affair. This is especially so at Marco's,
where the dough is made from scratch every day.
The tomato sauce is an accurate recreation of the Giammarco family recipe, according to Ohio
Business magazine. The sauce uses imported herbs and spices and vine-ripened Roma tomatoes.
Meanwhile, the cheese they use at their locations is a mysterious three-cheese
blend that is never frozen. The learning lab can get serious when the franchisees are trained in
"people development" and "operational excellence," but things can be fun, too.
"Marco's Pizza embraces the corporate mentality of people first."
It's a space to let the creative juices flow and experiment with dishes that could be potential
additions to Marco's menu, like the Chicken Fresco pizza, Grilled Chicken Florentine pizza
or the Roma Meat pizza, all of which were born within the walls of the 3,500 square-foot lab.
You would think that all the goodness of the pizza is outweighed by what some
claim is its unhealthiest component: the crust. Willing to take the risk,
Marco's Pizza simply took crusts out of the equation. Their new menu item, the Pizza Bowl,
comes with all the toppings and sauce you would find on the pizza, minus the crust.
By giving this new item a permanent spot on their menu since 2020,
Yahoo Money reports, Marco's became the first national pizza chain in
the country to regularly put out a pizza without the carby crust.
The pizza bowls are obviously targeted towards the burgeoning number of people looking for low-carb,
high-protein options. The bowls come in three options: Deluxe, All Meat, and Garden.
Marco's Pizzas were topped with something called "roni cups" well before the topping
took over social media. Also known as old-world pepperoni, crispy roni cups
are an alternative to the otherwise flat and chewy pepperoni slices you see on other pizzas.
"And the old world pepperoni, as you'll see, it cooks a little differently."
"Yep."
"But it also has a taste profile with a little more spice."
According to the Wall Street Journal, the old world pepperoni
was created by Italian-Americans about a century ago, and was originally made with natural casings
that were left on the product as it was sliced. The casing contracted a bit during cooking,
which caused the slices to pucker upward. But as the production increased post World War II, the
casing was made artificial and had to be peeled off before the pepperoni was cut into slices.
Without the casing, the pepperoni bits lay flat and didn't curl up.
The old world pepperoni is more expensive, so much so that, according to Eater.com,
they cost Williamsburg Pizza in New York 75 percent more than when they used the normal ones.
Despite the cost, Marco's Pizza has embraced roni cups since 2008. They introduced their
Pepperoni Magnifico pizza, complete with a mix of old school and classic pepperoni,
on the occasion of their 30th anniversary.
It's been so popular that the brand has noticed an increased demand for the more expensive pepperoni.
There is a lot of competition in the world of pizza. For instance,
pizza giants such as Pizza Hut and Domino's each boasts thousands of stores in the United States.
So, it comes as a real surprise that Marco's Pizza, which just crawled to the relatively
measly 1,000 store mark in 2020, was judged the best pizza brand of the year in 2019.
According to a press release from Marco's Pizza, it was called the most loved and the
most trusted pizza restaurant amongst consumers polled by a Harris Poll EquiTrend Study.
The study was based on a survey in which over 45,000 U.S. consumers took part.
Marco's Pizza is not just among the most loved and trusted pizza restaurants in
the U.S., but it is also one of the fastest-growing chains in the nation.
In 2017, Nation's Restaurant News placed it in the third position overall. In 2004,
Marco's had just 126 locations. Cut to 2020, and it has opened its 1,000th store in Florida.
It's also the sixth-largest pizza chain in Restaurant Business' "Top 500 Chains" list.
One of the key persons responsible for this rapid growth of Marco's Pizza is Jack Butorac,
the current president, chairman, and CEO of Marco's Franchising LLC.
He had just retired from Tumbleweed restaurants in 2002 before Marco's founder Pat Giammarco
hired him as a consultant. Butorac recalls visiting different locations
of Marco's Pizza and being impressed by the quality of the food in every store.
He realized that while they had a great product, they didn't know how to brand it
or how to position themselves in the big competitive world of pizzerias.
Butorac ended up hiring many new top executives and brought in a new financial plan that allowed
Marco's Pizza franchisees to keep opening new stores. These changes, coupled with the delicious
pizzas served at their stores, cemented Marco's position as a top competitor in the pizza world.
The only thing better than renting a movie to watch on a Friday night is getting a box
of pizza along with it. This is a dream come true with the agreement between the video rental chain
Family Video and Marco's Pizza. In 2012, Family Video decided to be a franchisee of Marco's Pizza
and house the pizza chain within 350 of its stores. The deal meant that Marco's
Pizza would take over up to 1,500 square feet in an individual Family Video store.
The arrangement couldn't have been better. In the Family Video stores that have a Marco's inside
them, you can choose a movie to rent while you wait for your pizza. If you are booking online,
there are options for both pizzas and movies that you can order in the same session.
If you're calling to place an order, simply ask them to put you through to
a Family Video employee to check if they have a particular movie that you want.
If they have it, you get your pizza order delivered along with the movie of your choice.
Once done with the movie, you can simply return the rented movie to the pizza delivery driver.
Everyone needs a reality check from time to time. For Bryon Stephens,
whom CBS reports joined Marco's as its President and Chief Operating Officer in 2004,
that came through an episode of the Emmy Award-winning reality show Undercover Boss.
This show requires that high-level executives take ordinary jobs within their company.
Along the way, execs get a different perspective on their work and often
learn what the employees really think of them, which is all captured using hidden cameras.
In the 2016 episode that featured Marco's Pizza,
Stephens gave up the comfort of his plush office room to work as a delivery driver,
pizza maker, and even as a cashier. He also helped load trucks at the company's
distribution center. Talking about the unique experience, Stephens had this to say:
"[B]eing on Undercover Boss provided a golden opportunity
to get an inside look from the perspective of the employee,
the franchisee and the customer. The discoveries I made during the journey were eye-opening."
He was moved by the experience and wanted others on the corporate side
to get a taste of what goes on in ground zero.
As a result, Byron brought in a new policy that required every corporate staff member to spend
at least one day a year at a franchise pizza store. The only difference? No hidden cameras.
Some of Marco's Pizza locations look different than others. That's because the chain decided to
bring about a shift in the design of its store interiors in 2018. While both the old and new
designs had their roots in cities of Italy, there was an enormous difference in the look and feel.
While most of the old Marco's Pizza stores were built in the "Tuscan Style,"
the new ones built after 2018 have a modern "Milan style" feel to them, according to the Phoenix
Business Journal. Elaborating on this difference, Ron Stilwell, Marco's Area Representative, said,
"The older style buildings were rustic, earthy and more based in nature,
representing the Italian countryside, thus named the 'Tuscan style'."
Referring to the new stores in the Phoenix area, Stillwell said,
"[The new restaurants] were headed towards clean linear tile and lines.
This is projecting the quality product that we serve, through the conveyance
that you are in the urban Italian kitchen that is open, clean lined, and welcoming."
Arizona was the first place where all Marco's Pizza restaurants were built
with this new Milan theme. Besides the clean, modern look of the place,
Marco's website states that the new design has helped create dramatic cost savings.
It has reduced the number and variety of tiles, introduced drop ceilings instead
of the more expensive open ones, and encouraged smaller store sizes.
For those who ask "What's in a name?", there's actually quite a lot there. When
you run a business for decades but have to end up changing its name because of a new challenger,
it can be a tad inconvenient. As per the Dallas Observer, a Dallas-based pizzeria formerly known
as Pizza by Marco went by that name until it came up against a trademark issue with Marco's Pizza.
Unfortunately, the Dallas-based chain hadn't trademarked their business name and decided
to give up their half-century-old title. So in 2013, they renamed themselves My Family's Pizza
instead. More than one pizza chain has faced issues with Marco's Pizza.
In fact, it looks like Marco's is a popular name when it comes to pizzerias.
In 2015, a Colorado-based pizzeria called Marco's Coal Fired Pizza decided to change
its name to Racca's Pizzeria Napoletana. The Colorado chain, run by a husband and wife duo,
didn't want any confusion with Marco's Pizza, which was expanding into Denver.
In yet another case and state, the entry of Marco's Pizza into the local
arena affected another small business. The North Carolina-based Marco's Pizzeria, founded in 1994,
was given a cease-and-desist letter by Marco's Pizza. The pizzeria had to
change its name to 828 Family Pizzeria to avoid confusion and comply with the trademark laws.
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus,
even more Mashed videos about your favorite restaurant chains are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.