After 40 years, our brand is still growing fast thanks to our authentic pizza, dedicated team and passionate franchisees
Marco’s Pizza® is proud to be celebrating 40 years of authentic Italian pizza, satisfied guests and happy franchisees.
After 40 years, Marco’s Pizza has never been stronger, thanks to our dedication to quality and authenticity.
“It’s hard to believe that a company that’s considered to be one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. today is 40 years old,” says Marco’s Pizza President Tony Libardi. “It’s a very unique place to be.”
But our anniversary isn’t the only number we’re proud of. Here are some of the other major milestones and achievements we’ve hit lately:
- $550 million in system sales in 2017
- 111 new store openings in 2017
- Top 25 in Entrepreneur’s 2018 Franchise 500
- More than 300 franchisees and 900 stores in 34 states and 4 countries
Every Store. Every Day. The Italian Way.
Marco’s Pizza was started back in 1978 by Pasquale “Pat” Giammarco. During his childhood in Italy, he learned the art of attention to detail and making sure to do things the right way. When he opened his first restaurant here in America, he brought that authentic Italian touch to his pizza. To this day, Marco’s is unique in the pizza industry as the only top 10 pizza chain founded by a native Italian.
We keep in touch with our roots. Our sauce is made from an original recipe developed by Marco’s founder Pat Giammarco, and it’s made fresh in-store every day with imported herbs and spices.
That makes a big difference. The quality of our pizza is still second-to-none, because 40 years on, we still hold true to everything the brand was founded on. Our dough, sauce and cheese are all fresh, never frozen.
“Pat Giammarco, he is a detail-oriented fellow. He is an artist when it comes to making pizza, and over the years he has perfected it,” says Libardi. “And we want to tell that story, because what we do, we don’t think anybody can compete with it.”
Where we’re going next
Adhering to tradition doesn’t mean that we never change. We’re always striving to be better, so we can continue to grow, overtake our competition and provide strong business opportunities for franchise owners. To celebrate 40 years in the business, we recently unveiled our “Hello Primo” brand refresh, a new campaign that tells the story of our quality, authenticity and value.
Part of that initiative has been the introduction of our new “Milan” store design, which creates a more compelling in-store experience to help franchisees add greater dine-in revenues.
“It gives us a unique position to be able to differentiate ourselves from the bigger brands and give us other avenues for revenue,” says Libardi. “We’ve paid a lot of attention to details – we’re hyper-focused on every touch point that the guest experiences.”
It’s that attention to detail that’s been a part of our brand from the very beginning. It’s taken us far, and it’s why even after 40 years in business, there’s never been a better time to open a Marco’s Pizza franchise.
Learn more about the Marco’s Pizza franchise opportunity
Download our franchise report for in-depth details about our business opportunity. You can also learn more by exploring our pizza franchise research pages or our recent feature articles.
