Marco’s Pizza Is America’s Most Underappreciated Pizza, 13 States They’re Moving Into

Have you ever been to Marco's Pizza? If not, add it to your bucket list. My family and I noticed Marco's a few years ago, and we've been eating there weekly ever since. If you're sick of the same old cookie-cutter pizzas from the big chains, then come here instead. Marco's uses high-quality ingredients and they have fewer items on their menu, so there's more time to cook everything to perfection.

Sadly, Marco's Pizza is also very underrated. It's not that there's anything wrong with the place. They just don't have as many restaurant locations as the big guys do. However, that is about to change. Marco's is making a major push to add many restaurants to its family. In fact, they're hoping to increase to over 4,000 eateries in the upcoming years. If you want to learn more about Marco's, this is the place to be. We'll tell you what makes Marco's so great, where the restaurants are located now, and where you'll see them in the future.

Let's start with the basics. What is Marco's Pizza and why are people excited to have a restaurant in their town? If you haven't heard of this chain of pizza shops before, then you will soon. Marco's is one of the most popular pie shops in the world and the customers who eat there love it. Currently there are over 1,200 restaurants across the country in 34 states.

The first Marco's location opened in 1978. It was the brainchild of Pasquale “Pat” Giammarco. When he was nine years old, his family moved from Italy to America. He kept his love of pizza and Italian food for many years and this inspired him to start a restaurant. The rest is history. That's what makes this place great. It has that spark that separates it from other chain restaurants that lack the same inspiration.

The main offerings at Marco's Pizza include a variety of pizza options. You have the standard options, like cheese and pepperoni. However, there are also unique pizza options, like Hawaiian chicken, pepperoni magnifico, and others. Besides pizza, Marco's also serves a variety of sub sandwiches, salads, and sides, including chicken wings and cheezy bread. They also serve their trademark dessert: cinnasquares. They are buttery pastries covered with cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla icing.

Marco's isn't underrated because the food isn't good. Quite the opposite. The brand prides itself on using premium ingredients and a focus on its Italian tradition. The reality is that, even though they have 1,200 locations strewn across the nation, the brand simply isn't as recognized as the heavy hitters like Pizza Hut and Domino's. However, as you'll see, that's about to change.

Marco's Pizza is considered to be underrated due to the sheer number of competitors, many of which have many more restaurants. Hunt's Brother's Pizza has close to 10,000 locations, Domino's has close to 7,000 and so does Pizza Hut. Little Caesar's and Papa John's also have more locations.

The leadership staff at Marco's Pizza has lofty goals for their organization. The brand has recognized the potential for over 4,000 locations across the United States and the rest of the world. They plan to do this through franchising. That is when they find potential owners to help build and staff a new Marco's restaurant to make money for the company. Currently, the company is looking for potential owners so they can experience vast expansion in 2025 and beyond.

In order to find success expanding, the leadership at Marco's has some great initiatives on the horizon. One of them is to continue to find new recipes to expand their menu. There is also a desire to enhance technology around the organization by introducing advanced data analytics and kitchen machinery. Finally, the chain has the desire to expand outside of America.

Currently, Marco's Pizza locations are in 35 different states and territories. You can find them in 802 cities. At this point, Texas has the most locations, with 195. Florida is second with 160, and Ohio is third with 140 stores. Many other highly populated states include Georgia, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, South Carolina, Michigan, and Alabama.

It's no surprise that the leadership team at Marco's wants to expand throughout the country. Currently, there's a big need on the East Coast as many highly-populated states, like Washington, New Jersey, and New York are without this tasty pizza.

The company is still looking for interested people to buy a Marco's Pizza franchise. In the meantime, there are a couple of new locations. One of these new restaurants is located in Louisville, Kentucky. This location will serve the same great pizza with the premium ingredients everyone loves.

Another one of the newest Marco's Pizza locations has opened in San Antonio, Texas. You can find it in the city at 5203 Eisenhauer Road. The franchisees of this location are a husband and wife team who want to bring more of the tasty food to the masses.

According to the same source, there will be another Marco's Pizza coming to San Antonio in the near future. This one is scheduled to be located at 14244 Potranco Road in the city. If this location becomes a reality, that will make 20 restaurants in San Antonio alone. The citizens there sure love high-quality pizza.

The company is very eager to expand. One look at this franchising map and you'll see that they are open to almost any state right now, with some exceptions. They are open to putting restaurants in both new states and states where they already have a presence.

The same franchising map highlights several states and where the company plans to plant stores in the future, but not quite yet. Washington, Oregon, New York, Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine are all considered future destinations, but only time will tell.

If you are interested in becoming a franchisee for Marco's Pizza but don't see your location on the map, then reach out and ask them. The brand is excited to open in every possible state and territory. They urge interested franchisees to reach out so the brand can continue to expand.

The corporate website mentions that the brand has a strong interest in opening restaurants all over Latin America. Currently, they have 19 Latin American countries listed on the site, including Mexico, Costa Rica, French Guiana, Peru, and Uruguay.

Marco's leadership also has an interest in spreading to seven other international territories in the near future. The territories they list are Europe, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, China, and Japan. They also show interest in opening restaurants in the Gulf Coast countries, which include Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain.