Three Marco's Pizza Franchise Groups Named to Franchise Times' 2026 Restaurant 200

Ranking Underscores Brand's Appeal to some of the Nation's Largest Multi-Unit Operators

TOLEDO, Ohio, Sept. 23, 2026 // PRNewswire // -- Marco's Pizza, one of the nation's fastest-growing pizza brands, announces three of its franchisees have been named to the 2026 Franchise Times Restaurant 200, the annual ranking of the largest restaurant franchisee organizations in the United States. Grube Inc. (No. 74), Hoogland Foods (No. 138), and Built Different Brands (No. 171) earned spots on this year's list, a recognition that reflects both the scale of these operators' respective franchise operations within the Marco's system and the brand's growing reputation as a prominent franchise opportunity for sophisticated, multi-unit investors.

Published by Franchise Times and researched by its sister publication, the Restaurant Finance Monitor, the Restaurant 200 ranks the country's largest restaurant franchisee companies by revenue generated from their franchised locations.

"We congratulate our franchisees who are on this list," said Gerardo Flores, Chief Development Officer of Marco's Pizza. "These are not first-time entrepreneurs testing out a concept. They're some of the most experienced, disciplined operators in the restaurant industry, and they've chosen to put real scale behind Marco's. That tells you everything about the confidence these multi-unit operators have in this brand's support infrastructure and runway for growth."

Meet Marco's Franchisees on the List 

• Grube Inc. (No. 74, 15 Marco's Pizza locations): Best known as one of the largest Buffalo Wild Wings franchisees in the country, Grube Inc. entered the Marco's system in 2023 through a transfer of nine Northwest Ohio locations, followed by entering into a 15-unit area development agreement for northeast Indiana. With its decades of multi-brand restaurant experience, they made the decision to invest in Marco's.
• Hoogland Foods (No. 138, 120 Marco's Pizza locations): Hoogland Foods is the largest franchisee in the entire Marco's Pizza system, operating well over 100 stores across more than a dozen states since opening its first location in 2012. Under the leadership of President McLain Hoogland, the family-owned company has grown steadily through new development and strategic acquisitions while building out the operational backbone required to run a franchise business at true scale.
• Built Different Brands (No. 171, 53 Marco's Pizza locations): Led by CEO Kal Gullapalli, Built Different Brands operates seven brands spanning food, wellness, and experiential concepts, including Marco's Pizza, Dave's Hot Chicken, PopUp Bagels, Restore Hyper Wellness, VIO Med Spa, Hand & Stone, and Sandbox VR, across Florida, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Tennessee.

Why Multi-Unit Operators Are Growing with Marco's

Across all three organizations, a common thread emerges: experienced owners and operators view Marco's as a strong, scalable addition to a broader portfolio strategy.

"The operators who make the Restaurant 200 aren't chasing trends; they're making calculated decisions about where their capital, their people, and their operational systems will perform best over the long term," added Flores. "The fact that three different organizations, with three very different portfolio strategies, all identified Marco's as a brand worth scaling reflects the brand's appeal to experienced multi-unit operators."

Marco's continues to prioritize multi-unit development agreements as a core part of its growth strategy. The company's Franchise Development Royalty Incentive Program is designed to lower barriers for qualified multi-unit operators, with early-stage royalty incentives starting at 0%*, along with comprehensive support in real estate, construction, and operations.

Prospects are taking note of the business opportunity, as Marco's Franchise Disclosure Document reports $1.28M AUV for the top 25% of franchised stores in 2025.** 

For more information Marco's Pizza franchise opportunities, visit https://www.marcos.com/franchising/ or contact Brad Smith at [email protected] 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. Notably, Marco's was recognized as America's Favorite Restaurant in the Limited-Service Pizza category by Nation's Restaurant News using Technomic Ignite Consumer 2025 dataꝉꝉ. Other recent accolades include being recognized by QSR as one of the "16 Best Franchise Deals for 2025", ranking No. 50 on Entrepreneur Magazine's 2026 "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.

*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. 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. To qualify for the incentive program, the participant must sign a development agreement and open the stores within the following timeframes: 1st Store within 365 days of signing; 2nd Store within 6 months of 1st store opening; 3rd Store within 6 months of 2nd store opening; 4th Store within 6 months of 3rd store opening; 5th Store within 6 months of 4th store opening.  

**Based on average sales volume of the top performing 25% (or 250 units) of Marco's Pizza Franchised Stores that were open during our 2025 fiscal year. Of the 997 Franchised Stores that were in operation for our entire 2025 fiscal year, 250 were included in the top 25% set and 37% 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 2025; (iii) special venue and non-traditional franchised locations; and (iv) Franchised Stores that closed in 2025. See Item 19 of our 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document for additional information. Individual results may differ. There is no assurance that any franchisee will perform as well. 

ꝉꝉAccording to Technomic's 2025 America's Favorite Restaurants data, Marco's Pizza secured the top spot in the Limited-Service Pizza category with a 54.6% 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. 

*** The QSR 50 is an annual ranking of limited-service restaurant companies by U.S. system-wide sales. QSR magazine collected information directly from restaurant companies from March to May 2026.

SOURCE Marco's Pizza

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