Lou Malnati's Pizzeria facts for kids
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A single serving deep-dish pizza
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| Private | |
| Industry | Pizzeria |
| Headquarters | Northbrook, Illinois, United States |
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Number of locations
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59 Chicagoland, 1 Northern Illinois, 7 Phoenix, Arizona area, 5 Milwaukee, Wisconsin area, 4 Indianapolis, Indiana area (2022) |
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Key people
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Lou Malnati, Founder |
Lou Malnati's Pizzeria is a famous restaurant chain from Northbrook, Illinois, in the United States. They are known for their delicious Chicago-style pizza. The company was started by Lou Malnati, whose father, Rudy, helped create the original Chicago-style pizza recipe. Lou Malnati's has become one of the most well-known pizza places in the Chicago area.
Lou Malnati's also has a special part of their company called "Lou Malnati's Presents Tastes of Chicago." They work with other famous Chicago food companies like Portillo's Restaurants and Eli's Cheesecake. Together, they ship Chicago-style foods all over the country!
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History of Lou Malnati's
In the 1940s, Lou Malnati started working with his father, Rudy. They made deep-dish pizza together. In the 1950s, they both helped manage a restaurant called Pizzeria Uno.
Lou and his wife, Jean, opened their very first Lou Malnati's Pizzeria on March 17, 1971. This first restaurant was in Lincolnwood, Illinois.
The Lincolnwood restaurant was a big success! After that, the family opened another restaurant in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. Even though it was a bit tricky at first, this second restaurant also did very well. The company kept growing from there. By April 2016, Lou Malnati's had 57 restaurants in the Chicago area.
The company is also involved in many local charities. They even participate in the famous Taste of Chicago food festival.
After Lou Malnati passed away in 1978, his wife Jean and their sons, Marc and Rick, took over the business. Today, some of their main competitors include Pizzeria Uno, Giordano's Pizza, and Gino's East.
Lou's half-brother, Rudy Malnati Jr., started his own deep-dish pizza chain called Pizano's in 1991.
On July 4, 2011, Lou Malnati's opened its largest pizzeria ever. It is located in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago. In July 2021, Lou Malnati's announced they were moving their main office to Buffalo Grove, Illinois.
Growing Beyond Illinois
Lou Malnati's has opened restaurants in three other states besides Illinois. These states are Arizona, Indiana, and Wisconsin.
They started opening restaurants in the Phoenix area on May 12, 2016. The first Arizona location opened at Uptown Plaza in central Phoenix. All of their Arizona restaurants are in the Phoenix area.
Indiana has four Lou Malnati's locations in the Indianapolis area. A fifth location opened in Schererville, Indiana, on July 15, 2019. This was the first Lou Malnati's to open in Indiana. Another store opened in Greenwood, Indiana, on June 6, 2022. The Schererville and Greenwood locations are only for carryout, delivery, and catering. They do not have dining rooms.
Wisconsin followed Indiana, with Lou Malnati's opening its first restaurant on December 11, 2019. This location is in Fox Point, a suburb of Milwaukee. All of the Wisconsin locations are in the Milwaukee area.
Lou Malnati's Pizza Style
Lou Malnati's is famous for its special Chicago-style deep-dish pizza. People often call their deep-dish pizza a "pie."
Here is how they make it:
- First, a thin layer of pizza dough is placed in a special deep-dish pan. The dough goes up the sides of the pan.
- Unlike regular thin-crust pizzas, the ingredients are put on in a different order.
- The first layer is thick slices of mozzarella cheese, placed right on the dough.
- Then, other toppings like mushrooms, pepperoni, and onions are spread on top of the cheese.
- The pizza is finished with a chunky tomato sauce. This sauce is made with whole pieces of tomatoes.
A special kind of Lou Malnati's pizza is called a "Lou-Mal" pie. This pizza uses a single, large patty of Italian sausage as the bottom layer, instead of crumbled sausage. This sausage patty is placed under the tomato sauce.
Lou Malnati's also offers options for people with special diets. They have gluten-free pizzas, but only in a small deep-dish size. They also have a "crust-less" pizza. For this, the dough is replaced with a sausage base.
It takes about 30 minutes to bake a deep-dish pizza for carryout orders. If you order for delivery, it can take up to an hour. This includes 30 minutes for baking and a 30-minute window for delivery.
Giving Back: Philanthropy
Since 1971, the Malnati family has held a special charity event every year. Lou and Jean Malnati started this event to create a scholarship fund. This fund helped local athletes go to Wake Forest University in honor of Brian Piccolo.
After Lou passed away in 1978, Jean continued the yearly tradition in Lou's name. The focus changed to raising money for cancer research.
In 1995, Lou Malnati's opened a restaurant in the Lawndale neighborhood on Chicago's west side. The goal for this restaurant was to give all its profits back to the community. This money helps children's education and fun programs. Lou Malnati's also works with the Lawndale Community Church. They have created a job-training program for people from the church's recovery home, Hope House. This helps them get back into the working world.
