Pizza chains of the United States

Question

This piglix contains articles or sub-piglix about Pizza chains of the United States

Answer 1

ShowBiz Pizza Place

ShowBiz Pizza Place was a restaurant pizza chain and family entertainment center founded in 1980 by Robert L. Brock and Creative Engineering. The brand emerged following a separation between Brock and Pizza Time Theatre, owners of the Chuck E. Cheese's franchise. ShowBiz Pizza restaurants entertained guests through a large selection of arcade games, coin-operated rides, and animatronic stage shows as a way to provide a complete package of food and entertainment.

Both companies became competitors and found early success, partly due to the rise in popularity of arcade games during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The type of animatronics used in the ShowBiz pizza chain – which featured an overall-clad, hillbilly bear named Billy Bob – distinguished it from its rival which offered many of the same services. Following Pizza Time Theatre's bankruptcy filing in 1984, however, ShowBiz bought the struggling franchise and formed ShowBiz Pizza Time Inc., a combination of the former companies' names. All ShowBiz locations were eventually rebranded Chuck E. Cheese by 1992.

Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, responsible for bringing the first widely recognized video game Pong to the mainstream, headed a project in the mid-1970s for Atari to launch the first arcade-oriented, family restaurant featuring computer-controlled animatronics. At a time when arcades were popular in bowling alleys and bars, Bushnell sought to increase arcade exposure to a younger audience. In 1977, Atari opened the first Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre in San Jose, CA. The concept became an immediate success, and after leaving Atari in 1978, Bushnell purchased the Pizza Time restaurant forming a new company under the title Pizza Time Theatre Inc.

As Bushnell heavily marketed the Pizza Time franchise hoping to expand into new markets, the concept began attracting high-profile clients such as Robert L. Brock, best known for his extensive portfolio of Holiday Inn hotels. In 1979, Brock signed a multimillion-dollar franchising agreement with the Pizza Time Theatre Inc., and expected to open as many as 280 Chuck E. Cheese's locations across 16 states in the United States. Shortly thereafter, Brock became concerned about protecting his investment, noticing companies such as Creative Engineering, Inc. (CEI) on the horizon designing more advanced animatronics. He grew concerned that future competitors would emerge with better technology. Bushnell previously reassured Brock at the signing of the franchising agreement that the company's technology would continue to evolve. However, prior to the grand opening of his first location, Brock decided he wanted to void the agreement with Pizza Time, and instead, form a partnership with CEI.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 2

Sir Pizza

Sir Pizza is an United States chain of pizza restaurants. Wendell Swartz opened the original restaurant in Lafayette, Indiana in 1957 under the name of Pizza King. Sir Pizza was incorporated in 1965. In 1966, Robert Swartz, Wendell's brother, expanded Pizza King outside of Indiana under the name of "Sir Pizza". In Indiana, they are franchised under the Pizza King name, one of two chains in Indiana using that name.

Sir Pizza franchise rights have been sold in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.

Various Sir Pizza franchises market the pizza with the phrase "Good to the Very Edge", which purports to reference the lack of a traditional crust in Sir Pizza pizzas. Specifically the pizza pies are "virtually flat with cheese, sauce, and toppings loaded all the way to the very edge." Sir Pizza is unique in that it does not use more typical sliced pepperoni, rather the topping is ground into crumbles that are spread over the entire pizza, similar to sausage.

There are multiple locations in Muncie, where the chain is based. Several franchises are scattered through mainly Eastern Indiana.

In Kentucky, Sir Pizza has multiple franchises in Lexington, along with one restaurant in Winchester.

In Michigan, Sir Pizza has franchises in East Lansing, South Lansing, and Battle Creek.

In North Carolina, Sir Pizza has franchises in High Point, Thomasville, Troy, Siler City, Asheboro, and Randleman.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 3

Snappy Tomato Pizza

Snappy Tomato Pizza

Snappy Tomato Pizza is a pizza chain that started in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, and has over 60 locations nationwide. Its headquarters are in Burlington, Kentucky. The chain specializes in pizza, but also serves calzones, hoagies, salads, pasta, dessert and appetizers.

The first Snappy Tomato Pizza was opened by Robert Rotunda in Fort Mitchell in 1978. Rotunda went to a horse race and put all of his money on a horse named “Snappy Tomato.” The horse won and Rotunda took all of his winnings and opened the first Snappy Tomato Pizza restaurant. In 1981 the company began franchising. In 1993, Snappy Tomato Pizza was purchased by Charles H. Deters.

Snappy Tomato has bought two other pizza franchises. Those two include a Cincinnati-based pizza franchise, “Spooners Pizza” in 1993, and seven Louisville, KY based franchises, “Pizza Magia” in 2005.

There are several dozen locations operating in the Greater Cincinnati area, and elsewhere in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Missouri, and Mississippi. Most stores are within the Southeastern United States. However, in 2009 Snappy Tomato Pizza ventured out west and opened up in Clovis, New Mexico. There is also a subsidiary company headquartered in Redditch in the UK, with branches in England and Scotland.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 4

Straw Hat Pizza

Straw Hat Pizza is a chain of pizza restaurants founded in 1959 in San Leandro, California.

Straw Hat Pizza was founded in 1959 by Charlie Olson and Bill Henderlong (d. 2008 Danville, California).

As of January 2017, the company's website lists 26 locations, the majority of which are spread across California, the remainder being one location in Nevada.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 5

Toppers Pizza (American restaurant)

Toppers Pizza is a chain of pizzerias in the United States. The chain was founded by Scott Gittrich in 1991 in Champaign, Illinois, but the original location closed in the mid-1990s. The first Toppers Pizza location in Wisconsin opened in Whitewater in 1993. The company is headquartered in Whitewater, Wisconsin. The first official franchise store opened in Eau Claire, WI in 1997.

There are Toppers Pizza franchises throughout the Midwestern United States.The chain includes both company-owned locations and franchise stores. It has more than 70 locations in the states of Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky, Nebraska, Michigan, Texas and Wisconsin. The chain's target market is college students and other customers between 18 and 34 years old. As part of its targeting of college students, most of the chain's stores remain open until 3:00 a.m. or later to accommodate late-night business.

Toppers founder Scott Gittrich entered the pizza business in 1984 when he was a college student at the University of Illinois and took a job as a Domino's Pizza delivery driver. He rose through the company, serving as director of operations for a group of 22 franchise locations in Charlotte, North Carolina, when he left in 1991 to start his own pizza business.

Originally called "Topper's Pizza", the chain removed the apostrophe from its name as part of its marketing strategy to give it a more informal image.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 6

Uncle Maddio%27s Pizza Joint

...

Wikipedia

Answer 7

Uno Pizzeria %26 Grill

...

Wikipedia

Answer 8

Upper Crust Pizzeria

Upper Crust Pizzeria

Upper Crust Pizzeria is a Boston, Massachusetts based chain of pizzeria restaurants. The chain went bankrupt following a finding by the U.S. Department of Labor that it had engaged in wage theft (not paying workers their legally required wages).

Founded by Jordan Tobins, the first location opened in Beacon Hill in 2001. It won local accolades such as "Best Gourmet Pizza" (Boston magazine) and "Boston's Best Pizza" (The Improper Bostonian). By May 2009, the chain had grown to 14 locations, and 17 by July 2010. In April 2011 the Upper Crust opened its 21st location, and its first outside of New England, in Washington, D.C. and announced plans to open 10 additional restaurants in the DC area over the next five years.

The chain subsequently declared bankruptcy in 2012 amid allegations that the company violated labor laws and raided the company's cash for his own expenses, a claim he has denied.

A United States Department of Labor investigation of the company's pay practices from April 2007 through April 2009 revealed that Upper Crust’s hourly workers were paid straight time even after they exceeded 40 hours in a week. The company was ordered to pay more than US$341,000 in back wages to about 121 workers for uncompensated overtime. The Labor Department began a new investigation of the company in 2010.

On July 16, 2010, a lawsuit was filed against the company by two former employees, claiming that the Upper Crust had forced employees to give back thousands of these dollars. The lawsuit claims that Upper Crust made illegal deductions from the plaintiff's wages, paid below the legal minimum wage, and retaliated against those who complained. Tobins described the plaintiffs as "disgruntled ex-employees... trying to figure out a way to extort money from our business", but in 2012 the company's former chief financial officer swore an affidavit saying that the Upper Crust had devised a scheme to wrest the money back which included the cashing of forged checks.

On December 20, 2010 a former operations manager at Upper Crust filed a lawsuit that accuses the Boston pizza chain of retaliating against him after he reported the company to the US Department of Labor for allegedly violating wage and hour laws.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 9

Vocelli Pizza

Vocelli Pizza

Vocelli Pizza (formerly Pizza Outlet) is a pizzeria based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As of 2008^[update], the chain has stores in the District of Columbia, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. The trade magazine Pizza Today ranked Vocelli Pizza in their Top 100 pizza franchises for 2007, based on its 2006 sales of $55 million.

The chain was founded in Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh in 1988 as Pizza Outlet. What was simply a local pizza shop quickly expanded in the Pittsburgh Tri-State region during the 1990s. During this time, their slogan was "Delivering Great Taste to Your Door". They also briefly used "The Taste that SCREAMS Fresh!" as well before reverting to their old slogan. Pizza Outlet was widely regarded as an affordable option for college students on a budget, especially among University of Pittsburgh students in the dorm towers.

This era is remembered for featuring wrestler Kurt Angle in a commercial featuring two CGI-animated pizza toppings that the chain had been using as mascots at the time wrestling each other on top of a pizza Angle had just ordered. The Rock later poked fun at Angle and the commercial on an episode of WWE Raw in Angle's hometown after Angle had established himself in the WWE.

After experiencing fast growth throughout the 1990s in its home market, the chain entered select markets in the Southern United States. However, the chain initially wasn't as successful.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 10

Your Pie

Your Pie is an American fast casual pizza concept, that was started in Athens, Georgia in 2008 by Drew French, and operates as a restaurant franchise with 58 locations across the United States. Your Pie provides customizable 10-inch pizzas and build-your-own panini sandwiches and bread bowl salads. Your Pie uses brick ovens to cook pizzas at a high temperature for a short amount of time.Gelato (Italian ice cream), craft beer and wine are also available. The interior décor differs from store to store, but all locations blend “old Italian” style with a modern, artistic approach.

Founder Drew French worked in the kitchens of many franchise brands throughout his college career. In May 2006, French vacationed with his wife to the island of Ischia for their honeymoon, an Italian island off the coast of Naples, where his wife's family is from. It was here where the concept for Your Pie began. Brick oven pizza was everywhere in Ischia. Noticing how quickly custom, artisan pies could be made through using a brick oven, French's idea for a build-it-yourself, quick-serve pizza place came to be.

Customers begin by selecting which hand-tossed dough will be used for their customized pizza. Following the down-the-line concept, customers then select which homemade sauce to put on the dough, and then choose which all-natural cheese will go on the pizza. Your Pie provides 35 ingredients to top pizzas with before the pizza is cooked. An alternative option is to choose from Your Pie's signature pies. There are seven “Favorites” that remain on Your Pie's menu year round as well as a signature craft pizza.

In March 2013, Entrepreneur Magazine listed Your Pie as #66 in a list of Top New Franchises. In June 2013, 1851 Magazine also selected Your Pie as one of 64 Restaurants To Watch for the year. In October 2015, Your Pie's Peach Prosciutto craft series pizza was selected as the East Coast Pizza Championship winner.

...

Wikipedia