Marco’s Pizza Fires Up Expansion with 40+ New Stores Opened in First Half of 2025

Brand’s Culture-Driven Growth, Franchisee Interest, and International Development Signal a Robust 2025

TOLEDO – Marco’s Pizza, one of the nation’s fastest-growing pizza brands, celebrates a powerful first half of 2025, marked by 41 new store openings, strategic international momentum, and continued investment in franchisee performance. If current trends continue, the brand is poised for a 28% year-over-year increase in new store openings – reinforcing its strength in a highly competitive market.

“We entered 2025 with momentum from a very intentional development strategy – and that pipeline is now turning into stores,” said Gerardo Flores, Chief Development Officer of Marco’s Pizza. “The potential of our model and the power of our culture create an opportunity to grow with a brand that’s not just expanding but doing so the right way.”

A Strategic Focus on Real Estate

Earlier this year, Marco’s welcomed back longtime team member Joe Stephens as Vice President of Real Estate to support franchisees’ site selection and other real estate consultation. Stephens, a 13-year veteran of the brand, brings deep industry expertise to accelerate store openings in key markets.

With 41 store openings year-to-date, Marco’s continues to demonstrate the power of a strategic, data-driven real estate approach. By utilizing predictive tools and consumer behavior insights, Marco’s is looking far beyond traditional site selection methods.

This tech-forward strategy helps identify potentially untapped markets. As the cost of capital rises and competition tightens, Marco’s is doubling down on its commitment to innovative technology tools to aid its growth and help franchisees.

Franchisees Fueling Growth

Current franchisees continue to expand with the brand – nearly 65% of 2024 signed agreements came from existing franchisees. Prospects are taking note of the business opportunity, as the Marco’s Franchising Franchise Disclosure Document reports $1.3M AUV for the top 25% of franchised stores in 2024.*

To further support expansion, Marco’s recently launched a Franchise Development Royalty Incentive Program designed to reduce barriers for qualified multi-unit owners. With early-stage royalty incentives starting at 0%**, plus real estate, construction, and operations support, the brand offers a streamlined, resource-rich path to growth.

Global Expansion Milestones

Alongside domestic expansion, Marco’s just marked two key international milestones – marking one year since opening its first location in Mexico and ten years of operations in Puerto Rico. Notably, Mexico’s expansion is led by Grupo Pizza Amantes SA de CV, a 50-unit master franchise partner with deep hospitality experience. The Mexico team is on pace to have 3-4 total locations open in Mexico by year-end.

Marco’s now boasts 66 locations across the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and Mexico, with a long-term development vision targeting Latin America and Canada.

Culture-Driven Growth: Empowering Teams, Fueling Communities

Marco’s Pizza continues to live out its “People First, Mission Always” philosophy by empowering both franchisee teams and the communities it serves. At the store level, the brand is scaling its We’re Golden development program – a system-wide training initiative designed to help franchisees build an in-store culture rooted in hospitality, opportunity, and personal growth. The goal: train franchisees across 700 stores by the end of 2025.

Meanwhile, The Marco’s Pizza Foundation is making meaningful strides through its four cause pillars: school and education, hunger prevention, workforce development, and entrepreneurship. In April, the Foundation announced a $317,000 donation to Junior Achievement USA (JA) – a figure that has since grown to more than $530,000, surpassing fundraising goals.

“As a franchise-driven brand, we know the power of entrepreneurship to transform lives,” said Stephanie Moseley, President of the Marco’s Pizza Foundation and a multi-unit franchisee. “We’re proud to invest in the next generation of business leaders and to see our franchisees and customers embrace this mission with heart and purpose.”

For more information Marco’s Pizza franchise opportunities, visit https://www.marcos.com/franchising/ or contact Beth Heminger at bheminger@marcos.com or 419-279-5795.

ABOUT MARCO’S PIZZA

Headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, Marco’s Pizza is one of the fastest-growing pizza brands 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 1,200 stores in 35 states with locations in Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Mexico. Most recently, Marco’s was recognized as America’s Favorite Restaurant in the Limited-Service Pizza category by Nation’s Restaurant News using Technomic Ignite Consumer 2024 data^ꝉꝉ. Other recent accolades include ranking No. 48 on Entrepreneur Magazine’s 2024 “Franchise 500” ranking, earning a coveted spot as the only top 5 pizza chain to rank on Newsweek’s 2025 “America’s Best Customer Service” in pizza chains list, earning a spot on QSR’s Top 50, and being featured on Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious “Top 500” ranking.

*Based on average sales volume of the top performing 25% (or 239 units) of Marco’s Pizza Franchised Stores that were open during our 2024 fiscal year. Of the 955 Franchised Stores that were in operation for our entire 2024 fiscal year, 239 were included in the top 25% set and 40% obtained or surpassed the average sales volume. This information excludes (i) international locations (including Puerto Rico); (ii) Franchised Stores not open for the entire 52-week period in 2024; (iii) special venue and non-traditional franchised locations; and (iv) Franchised Stores that closed in 2024. See Item 19 of our 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document for additional information. Individual results may differ. There is no assurance that any franchisee will perform as well.

**The information provided in this article should not be construed as an offer to sell any Marco’s Pizza® franchises in, nor is any such communication directed to, the residents of any jurisdiction requiring registration of the franchise before it is offered and sold in that jurisdiction. Currently, the following states regulate the offer and sale of franchises: California, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. Marco’s Pizza® franchises will not be sold to any resident of such jurisdiction until the offering has been exempted from the requirements of, or duly registered in and declared effective by, such jurisdiction and the required franchise disclosure document (if applicable) has been delivered to the prospective franchisee before the sale in compliance with applicable law. To qualify for the incentive program, the participant must sign a development agreement and open the stores within the following timeframes: 1^st Store within 365 days of signing; 2^nd Store within 6 months of 1^st store opening; 3^rd Store within 6 months of 2^nd store opening; 4^th Store within 6 months of 3^rd store opening; 5^th Store within 6 months of 4^th store opening. Additionally, the participant must meet our financial, creditworthiness, and operational criteria to qualify for the incentive program and be approved by us to open each Store. If the franchisee is a corporation, partnership, limited liability company, or other legal entity, the qualifying participant must maintain at least 50% ownership in the entity, as well as the qualifying existing Stores, to qualify for this program, and the franchisee must comply with program requirements. In the event the participant fails at any time to meet the timelines to qualify for the applicable incentive program while developing a Store, the Store being developed and any remaining unopened Stores to be developed will pay the then-current standard Royalty Fee rate. See Marco’s Franchising’s Franchise Disclosure Document for more information.

^ꝉꝉAccording to Technomic’s 2024 America’s Favorite Restaurants data, Marco’s Pizza secured the top spot in the Limited-Service Pizza category with a 53.4% composite top-box rating, indicating the share of recent guests who gave the brand the highest possible rating for each of the guest experience attributes. Data for America’s Favorite Chains comes from Technomic Ignite Consumer, which collects information about how brands impact consumers and how consumers interact with those brands, via online surveys. See here for more information: www.technomic.com/ignite-consumer.