MT. PLEASANT, Mich., June 23, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Marco's Pizza, the 135-unit, 27-year-old pizza chain headquartered in Toledo, OH, hosted its annual franchisee meeting at the Flying Eagle Casino and Resort in Mt. Pleasant last week; and Jack Butorac, Jr., president of Marco's Franchising LLC, told the gathering of 80 franchisees that the company will open 27-37 new stores in 2005 and will soon roll out a new branding initiative in its marketing materials.
Butorac, a veteran franchise growth expert, who acquired the franchise rights to the Toledo-based chain in 2004 from the company founder Pasquale "Pat" Giammarco, told the audience that Marco's solid reputation of quality, service and product has set the stage for the organization to grow.
Last year, Marco's enlisted the aid of MapInfo, a New York firm that uses the latest technology to identify growth potential and sites based on population and other customer demographics.
"Based on our MapInfo research, there is room for Marco's to at least double the current number of units in its current markets of Ohio, Michigan and Indiana, and we have already signed franchise agreements to add stores in Nevada and Arizona," Butorac said.
Butorac, who also served with Tumbleweed Southwest Bar & Grill Mesquite Restaurants and Chi Chi's, during those restaurants' growth years, has built a strong franchise growth team of experienced veterans from A&W, YUM, Long John Silver's and Papa John's Pizza.
"We will soon be rolling out a new branding effort which emphasizes our roots at Marco's," Butorac told the audience. "Pat Giammarco, our founder, continues to provide insight on product development, is a native of Italy, and he has used that heritage to craft the product recipes we use today. We want to emphasize the Italian heritage of our products."
Marco's also cited a number of key performing franchisees during they meeting. They were:
Joe Mouch, Monroe, MI, has honored with the Special Achievement Award for increasing his average weekly sales by 102% in eighteen months. Butorac said, this is an amazing feat, Joe followed the Marco's system to the letter and maintains an active involvement in his local community.
Product, Service, and Image Awards were presented to the following franchise owners for the excellent reputation they have within their community:
Steve Finley Ft. Wayne, Indiana Gino Harb Toledo, Ohio Steve Miller Mansfield, Ohio Jim Starchan and Craig Cain Pinckney, Michigan
The MVP award was presented to corporate office employee, Steve Dartt, Marketing Specialist, who has been providing franchise owners exemplary service for eight years.
Additional information on Marco's is available at www.marcos.com or by emailing dallen@marcos.com.