Vocelli Pizza facts for kids
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Formerly
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Pizza Outlet |
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Fast food |
| Founded | 1988, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US |
| Headquarters | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US |
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Key people
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| Products | Pizza, Pasta |
Vocelli Pizza (once known as Pizza Outlet) is an American pizzeria. A pizzeria is a restaurant that mainly sells pizza. This company started in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
As of 2022, Vocelli Pizza has stores in several states. These include Alabama, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. In 2007, a magazine called Pizza Today listed Vocelli Pizza among the Top 100 pizza companies. This was based on their sales of $55 million in 2006.
History of Vocelli Pizza
Vocelli Pizza has an interesting history. It started as a different company name.
How Pizza Outlet Began
The Ablak family started this pizza chain in 1988. It began in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. At first, it was just a local pizza shop called Pizza Outlet.
During the 1990s, Pizza Outlet grew quickly. It expanded across the Pittsburgh area. Their main saying, or slogan, was "Delivering Great Taste to Your Door." For a short time, they also used "The Taste that SCREAMS Fresh!" but then went back to their first slogan. Pizza Outlet was known for being a good and cheap choice for college students.
A famous wrestler named Kurt Angle even appeared in a commercial for Pizza Outlet. In the ad, two animated pizza toppings, who were the company's mascots, wrestled on a pizza. Later, another wrestler, The Rock, joked about this commercial.
Becoming Vocelli Pizza
After growing a lot in Pittsburgh, the company tried to open stores in the southern United States. But these new stores did not do as well at first.
Instead of closing the southern stores, Pizza Outlet decided to change things. In 2002, they changed the name of 73 stores in the South to Vocelli Pizza. They also gave the restaurants an Italian look and feel. Before this, Pizza Outlet stores did not have a special theme inside. Changing the name, pizza boxes, and advertising cost the company about one million dollars.
Even with the changes, the pizza itself stayed the same. However, sales at the southern stores went up a lot after the name change. Because of this success, the company decided to change all Pizza Outlet stores to Vocelli Pizza in 2003. They also felt the name "Vocelli Pizza" sounded more elegant than "Pizza Outlet."
Today, Vocelli Pizza continues to grow. It is known as one of the fastest-growing pizza companies in the United States. In 2012, Vocelli Pizza had 100 locations.
