Strong expansion, financial performance, franchisee support all play into our latest Entrepreneur Franchise 500 ranking.
President and COO Tony Libardi is at the helm of our rapid expansion.
It’s been 40 years since Entrepreneur magazine started ranking the nation’s top franchise opportunities, and Marco’s Pizza is proud to have been included on the prestigious list again this year. We’ve made the list for the last several years.
Entrepreneur evaluates hundreds of franchise brands each year on a number of criteria, including costs and fees, size and growth, franchise support, brand strength and financial stability.
Marco’s is one of the fastest growing pizza franchises, with over 900 stores in 35 states. We anticipate reaching the 1,000-store mark this year. We’ve experienced same-store sales increases almost every quarter since 2004.
Why we’re one of the best pizza franchises
We stand out from the rest in many ways, most notably our commitment to quality. Marco’s Pizza is the only one of the top 10 pizza chains started by a native Italian. Pat Giammarco, who came to the states as a child, opened his first pizzeria in Toledo in 1978.
Today, we’ve retained the authenticity of the Italian way of creating pizza, as well as Giammarco’s original sauce recipe. We make the dough fresh in stores daily, we use quality ingredients, and the flavor shines through.
Ideal for multi-unit investors
Unlike bigger pizza chains that have sold out most of their desirable locations across the nation, Marco’s still has prime territory availability. With our business model and accessible startup costs, we’re the perfect franchise opportunity for multi-unit investors. We are continually striving for a bigger share of the growing $47 billion pizza industry, but we won’t sacrifice our high standards or rush our growth beyond our capacity to get to the top.
Marco’s offers exceptional franchisee support, with Area Representatives and Franchise Business Leaders to help you achieve your business goals. Our stores perform well in large urban areas as well as smaller markets where our brand is lesser known.
Our next growth targets
With an eye toward mid-sized markets, Marco’s is actively seeking multi-unit developers in these territories:
Marco’s Pizza is actively seeking qualified franchise partners in the following territories:
Texas: Ranking No. 1 in America’s Top States for Business in 2018, Texas is an ideal market for expansion. Building on the strength of our 85 existing locations across the state, Marco’s Pizza is seeking development in Lubbock, which can hold seven locations, and Longview/Tyler, which has potential for three locations.
Georgia: Marco’s Pizza has found incredible success with more than 100 active locations in Georgia, 90 of which operate in the Atlanta hub. Georgia continues to be a prime state for development due to its diverse talent pool and community with deep restaurant industry roots. Ideally, we would like to open three new locations in Savannah.
Oklahoma: After vast market research, it’s clear a diverse small-business ecosystem is finding root in Tulsa, Oklahoma’s second-largest city. With a low-cost operating environment and a robust pipeline of talent coming from nearby universities, Tulsa has the potential to accommodate six locations throughout the city, adding to Marco’s nearly 25 locations open across the state.
Louisiana: There are currently three successful locations in Louisiana, leaving an open market for growth potential. The ideal target market for continued expansion is Shreveport, which has potential for four locations.
Idaho: Marco’s Pizza debuted in the state early this year with a location in Meridian. We would like to expand the brand presence with five locations in greater Boise.
Nevada: With nearly 10 locations operating at high performance, Marco’s hopes to capitalize on the opportunity for continued development throughout the state, targeting expansion in the Reno market, which has the potential for two locations.
New Mexico: With a positive business climate and an open real estate market, New Mexico is ideally situated for Marco’s Pizza. We hope to debut in this state by opening three locations in Albuquerque.
Learn more
If you’d to learn more about our award-winning franchise, you can explore more about the opportunity on our research pages. You can request more information about our franchise here.
