Donatos Pizza facts for kids
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Donatos Pizza Home Office
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Trade name
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Donatos Pizza |
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| Private | |
| Industry | Restaurant |
| Founded | 1963 |
| Founder | Jim Grote |
| Headquarters |
Gahanna, Ohio
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U.S.
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Number of locations
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178 Stores |
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Key people
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Jane Grote Abell (chairwoman) Kevin King (CEO) |
| Products | Pizza, subs, salads |
Donatos Pizza is a popular restaurant chain known for its unique "Columbus-style" pizza. Its main office is in Gahanna, Ohio, in the United States. Donatos has more than 176 restaurants in twelve different states. You can also find Donatos Pizza in almost 300 other places, like some Red Robin restaurants.
Contents
History of Donatos Pizza
How Donatos Started
Donatos Pizza started in 1963. A young man named Jim Grote bought the first restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. He paid $1,300 for it. Jim had worked there since he was 13 years old. He decided to keep the name "Donatos." This name comes from a Latin word, "dono," which means "to give."
Growing Across the States
In 1991, the first Donatos Pizza that was owned by a different person (a franchise) opened. This store was in Zanesville, Ohio. By 2023, there were over 170 Donatos Pizza locations. These stores are in twelve states across the U.S. These states include Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Texas.
A Brief Time with McDonald's
In 1999, the big fast-food company McDonald's bought Donatos. McDonald's wanted to try selling pizza. However, in 2003, Jim Grote and his daughter, Jane Grote Abell, bought most of Donatos back. McDonald's decided to focus on its main business. During this time, Donatos also had restaurants in Munich, Germany.
New Partnerships and Ideas
In 2017, Jim Grote, the founder of Donatos, invested in a company called BeeHex. This company uses 3D printing to make food. It even had connections to NASA!
In 2018, Donatos started working with Red Robin restaurants. Red Robin began selling Donatos pizzas in their stores. This partnership grew quickly. By early 2020, Donatos pizzas were available in 25 Red Robin locations. The plan was to add Donatos to many more Red Robin restaurants. By the end of 2022, Donatos pizzas were available in about 425 of Red Robin's 570 restaurants.
To make this happen, Red Robin restaurants installed special pizza ovens. Donatos makes its secret-recipe dough in Ohio. This fresh dough is then sent to Red Robin kitchens everywhere. The pizzas are made there, just like they would be in a regular Donatos restaurant.
Donatos Products
Donatos is famous for its thin-crust pizza. They are known for loading toppings "Edge to Edge." Their large pepperoni pizza, for example, often has over 100 slices of pepperoni! In 2009, Donatos also started offering a hand-tossed crust option. In 2004, the company began selling "take-and-bake" pizzas. You could buy these pizzas at Kroger supermarkets and bake them at home.
See also
External links
- Donatos official website: https://www.donatos.com/
