Franchise News

Existing Multi-Unit Franchisee Seizes Growth Potential, Set to Open All Locations by End of 2025

Marco's Pizza, the nation's fastest-growing pizza brand*, announces a multi-unit signed agreement that will bring eight new stores to Northern Virginia by the end of 2025. Marco's remains on the fast-track for growth with multi-unit expansion continuing to play a key role in its overall development strategy. The news comes on the heels development and sales milestones with the opening of its 1100th store and surpassing $1B in annual systemwide sales.

The new 8-unit area development agreement adds to franchisee, Michael Ghanem's, existing two-unit agreement with Marco's Pizza. His first store recently opened at 46515 Harry Byrd Hwy in Sterling, with his second location slated to open in the Reston/Herndon area in Q1 2023. Ghanem and his team are in early site selection across Leesburg, Sterling, Herndon, Reston, Arlington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon for the additional eight stores.

"When we began our search for viable franchise opportunities, we were looking for one key factor in particular - the potential for growth," said Ghanem. "Marco's growth journey has been nothing short of remarkable and seeing the untapped potential in Northern Virginia, we knew it was an opportune time to join the brand and grow our portfolio. We feel confidently that with the support of the Marco's team and our drive to succeed as franchisees, we'll be able to actualize our goal of being the No. 1 Marco's operator in the Northeast market." 

Marco's now spans 1,100 stores across 33 states with locations in Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. Franchise expansion continues to accelerate with more than 200 stores in various stages of development with more than 350 agreements signed. According to FRANdata, a leading research and advisory firm that analyzes the franchise market, Marco's 2022 FUND® Score of 895 is in the top 1% of all evaluated franchise systems and is the 2nd highest score among all evaluated food franchises.

Company leadership is prioritizing 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 while meeting the needs of today's modern customer.

Nation's Restaurant News Top 500 Report shows Marco's achieved the highest percent year-over-year sales change (+18.2%) when compared to the nation's top 4 pizza brands**, making Marco's the No. 5 pizza brand in systemwide sales in America. With strong growth and performance, Marco's now sets its sights on becoming the No. 4 brand in pizza as it 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***.

With prime territories available for development, Marco's provides a full development support system, including technology and tools to help identify the right territories for expansion plus expertise in financing, real estate, construction management, and field operations, to assist franchisees and multi-unit operators.

For more information on Marco's Pizza franchise opportunities, visit https://www.marcos.com/franchising/ or call 866-731-8209 to speak with Shannon Iverson, Vice President of Franchise Sales.

ABOUT MARCO'S PIZZA
Marco's Pizza is America's Most Loved and Most Trusted Pizza Brand, according to the 2019 Harris Poll EquiTrend® Study. Headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, Marco's Pizza is the fastest-growing pizza brand in the United States*. Marco's was founded in 1978 by Italian-born Pasquale ("Pat") Giammarco and thrives to deliver a high-quality pizza experience, known for its dough made from scratch and its three fresh signature cheeses. The company has grown from its roots as a beloved Ohio brand to operate over 1,100 stores in 34 states with locations in Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. Most recently, Marco's Pizza was ranked No. 2 in the Pizza category on Entrepreneur Magazine's 2022 "Franchise 500" ranking, and No. 4 in the Fastest Growing category on Restaurant Business' 2021 "Top 10 Fastest Growing Chains" ranking. Other recent accolades include a high ranking on Newsweek's 2023 "America's Best Customer Service" in pizza chains list, ranked No. 40 on QSR's Top 50 and has been featured five consecutive years on Nation's Restaurant News' prestigious "Top 500" ranking.

*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.