Marco’s Pizza, the nation’s fastest-growing pizza brand*, continues its rapid expansion and strong performance having now opened its milestone 1,100th store and officially crossing $1B annual systemwide sales.
These achievements come on the heels of aggressive franchise expansion with more than 200 stores in development, alongside record-breaking growth that has helped catapult its strong performance as America’s No. 5 pizza brand in systemwide sales**.
Multi-unit growth continues to play a strategic role in Marco’s rapid expansion, with nearly half of its current franchise network made up of multi-unit operators. Behind the 1,100th store is Kal Gullapalli, a seasoned franchisee with a desire to grow a 100-plus Marco’s store portfolio by 2025.
Gullapalli spent seven years on Wall Street before transitioning to entrepreneurship in 2016. He has since become a veteran in the franchise industry, owning several fitness and health & wellness retail centers. Gullapalli joined Marco’s in 2021 with a desire to diversify his portfolio amid the ongoing pandemic – seeing the immense value of pizza in his playbook.
As franchise development continues to surge, leadership prioritizes investments in enhancing the franchise development program, new technology, personnel, strategic vendor partnerships, multi-channel national advertising, and more – all with an eye on maximizing franchisee profits and growing systemwide sales.
As a result, Marco’s experienced a 12.8% increase in year-over-year Average Unit Volume (AUV), and the Top 50% of Marco’s franchised stores generated $1,198,201 AUV for 2021***.
Not many brands have crossed the $1 billion annual sales milestone. Marco’s credits its loyal customers, franchisees and team members at the store level who deliver on the brand promise each and every day.
To commemorate the $1 billion achievement, the company is launching the Marco’s Pizza Foundation as an extension of its mission to empower franchisees and team members to make a positive difference in their communities. The Foundation will support four key pillars: School & Education, Hunger Prevention & Nutrition, Workforce Development, and Entrepreneurship.
With a quality product, proven business model, a national TV advertising presence, and commitment to community that is driving brand growth, Marco’s has set its sights on becoming the No. 4 brand in pizza.
“Having a superior product gives you the basic foundation you need to scale,” said Tony Libardi, Co-CEO & President. “From there, our team continues to produce the best-in-class tools to support our franchisees. Simply put, our executive leadership team is world-class. With combined industry knowledge and 200-plus years of collective experience, we’ve built an incredible infrastructure for growth, and by partnering with like-minded franchisees who see the strength in the brand, we become an unstoppable force.”
If you’re ready to get in on this opportunity, visit https://www.marcos.com/franchising/ or call 866-731-8209 to speak with Shannon Iverson, Vice President of Franchise Sales.
*Marco’s Pizza is the fastest-growing pizza brand based on year-over-year unit growth, according to 2021 NRN Top 500 U.S. Restaurant Ranking LSR Pizza Segment.
**Nation’s Restaurant News partnered with Datassential and its Firefly data platform to provide an in-depth look at the performance across the Top 500 restaurant chains.
***Based on the Average Unit Volume of the top 50% of our Franchised Stores for fiscal year 2021. Based on fiscal year 2021, 146 of 389 Franchised Stores in the category (38%) met or exceeded this average. This information appears in Item 19 of our 2022 FDD – please refer to our FDD for complete information on financial performance. Results may differ. There is no assurance that any franchisee will perform as well.
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Marco’s Pizza®
Marco’s Pizza is the nation’s fastest-growing pizza brand* with 1,100+ stores and counting. It is America’s No. 5 pizza brand based on annual systemwide sales*. Marco’s seeks growth-minded franchisees to join our accelerating brand. Learn More