Marco's Pizza has 37 stores here and is still expanding, with plans to open 14 more pizza shops and hire about 400 people in Northeast Ohio by 2016.
AVON LAKE, Ohio -- When Marco's Pizza decided to branch out from its Toledo roots, its Italian immigrant founder Pasquale "Pat" Giammarco saw Greater Cleveland as his first major growth market. Twenty-six years later, Marco's has 37 stores here and is still expanding, with plans to open 14 more pizza shops and hire about 400 people in Northeast Ohio by 2016.
Matt Baker, a 27-year employee and area representative for Marco's, plans to hire more than 60 people for three locations opening by the end of the year: at 2474 Manchester Road in Akron on Sept. 1, at 14871 Detroit Road at the Marc's Plaza in Lakewood in late October, and in Downtown Cleveland near PlayhouseSquare in December. Job seekers can apply in store or at marcos.com.
Marco's Pizza, founded in 1978 in Toledo, operates more than 500 stores and employs nearly 10,000 people in 33 states and in the Bahamas. The company calls itself the fastest-growing pizza franchise in the U.S., with 200 locations opening in 2014 and plans to quadruple its store count within seven years. In Ohio, Marco's employs more than 1,800 at 123 restaurants statewide.
Baker sees the potential for several more Marco's throughout his district, which stretches from Lorain County to the Pennsylvania border, south to the Akron-Canton area. He is seeking franchisees interested in opening locations in Akron's Goodyear Heights area, Ashtabula, Aurora, Bay Village/Rocky River, Brecksville, Canton, Highland Heights/Richmond Heights, Hudson, Kent, Mayfield Heights, Painesville, Solon, Streetsboro, and Wadsworth.
And that's in addition to a separate $100 million agreement Marco's has with Family Video to open Marco's pizza shops inside more than 350 of their video stores.
Marco's is expanding just as consumers nationwide are cutting down on their visits to quick-service pizza restaurants. The number of visits declined 3 percent in the fiscal year that ended June 2014, according to the NPD Group's ReCount restaurant census.
Fred LoSchiavo, founder and president of family-owned Antonio's Pizza, wonders how Marco's will expand here so quickly.
"My biggest concern with them opening up 14 stores within the next two years is how they're going to staff them," he said. "That's something I could never do, because finding people who are dedicated to your business is hard. We have 10 restaurants and we're going to 12, in Wadsworth and Macedonia, and we've been training people for the past year to make sure we have the right foundation in place" before the doors open.
LoSchiavo said Marco's makes good pizza, but "no matter how good your product is, you've also got to have great customer service to keep people coming back. That's really a hard thing to find -- great customer service."
NPD found that the number of quick-service pizzerias and Italian restaurants stayed relatively the same over the past year, from 66,751 last spring to 66,991 in spring 2014. But that's because chain pizzerias grew by 521 units to 39,893, while the number of independent pizzerias fell by 281 units to 27,098.
In the Greater Cleveland metro market, the number of quick-service pizzeria grew by six, to 1,164 in spring 2014, according to NPD. Chain pizzerias like Marco's added eight units, for a total of 737, while independents lost two units, for 427 total.
"Pizzeria's are being challenged by frozen pizza at supermarkets, because the quality has increased over the years," added Kim McLynn of the NPD Group.
Matt Baker started working for Marco's at 17, starting out as a pizza maker at a store in Fostoria that was managed by his wrestling coach's wife. He got hooked on the business, followed Marco's to Toledo, and briefly studied archaeology at the University of Toledo before returning to the company. He now owns Marco's franchises in Stow, Cuyahoga Falls and Akron.
He said what makes Marco's different from other pizzerias are its ingredients.
"We use a fresh blend of three cheeses, never frozen," he said. "Our dough is made onsite daily. The sauce is made daily, with a special secret spice recipe. We have people that just grow Marco's tomatoes."
The dough is blended in giant mixers, allowed to rise, and kept in a proofer until needed. Once an order comes in, Manager/Pizza Maker Terry Spears picks up a mound of dough, drenches both sides in cornmeal and runs it through a stretcher to flatten it out.
Once it's thin enough, he picks it up and tosses it between his flour-covered hands until it's stretchy and elastic. He pats it out on the pizza pan, ladles a scoop of sauce around the middle, and covers it all in shredded cheese, pepperoni and other toppings. He picks up the pie, turns around and slides it into the 470-degree oven in a single fluid motion.
"Pepperoni is everybody's favorite, followed by Deluxe Uno (cheese, pepperoni, Italian sausage, mushrooms, green peppers, onions, sprinkling of extra cheese)," Baker said, pausing to poke some bubbles he notices rising on pizzas baking in the oven.
After a pie emerges, Baker drizzles garlic butter around the crust and sprinkles it with "romasan crust topping" before he slices it into wedges.
"No discerning Italian pizza chef would ever dream of using frozen cheese," the company declares on its in-store signs. "But that's exactly what many pizza companies do. The idea gives us chills. That's why we use only fresh cheese. Never frozen. And not just mozzarella like some places, but Marco's own special blend of three cheeses. It's at the heart of our authentic, fresh taste and would make any Italian pizza maker proud."
Baker expects an upcoming promotion that lets schools earn Marco's Pizza points to compete for $50,000 in cash and other prizes to beef up orders throughout the school year. He is hoping to increase the 154 elementary schools that competed last year to more than 200 this year. The contest starts Sept. 1.