Marco’s Pizza franchisee reaches 36 locations for himself and 1,100 for the brand

Marco’s Pizza has announced the opening of its 1,100th location, and the 36th for its franchisee, Kal Gullapalli. He is all set to open the new unit in Dundee, Florida. The new location will be situated at 28065 US Hwy 27 and is slated for a July opening this year.

Multi-unit growth plays a considerable part in the brand’s expansion efforts with nearly half of the franchise system made up of multi-unit operators. Marco’s is approaching $1bn in system-wide sales, and many franchisees are looking to get in on the action by expanding their franchise porfolio.

Gullapalli moved into franchising seven years ago, where he owned several fitness and health, and wellness retail centers. He eventually joined Marco’s Pizza in 2021 with the intention of diversifying his franchise portfolio. He has committed to a further 16 restaurants in Tampa, Florida; Myrtle Beach, Columbia, South Carolina; and Georgia. Gullapalli aims to have over 100 Marco’s stores in his portfolio by 2025.

“With Marco’s, there’s a clear path to my team owning 100-plus locations,” said Gullapalli.

“The brand has a superior product, a sophisticated development team, and vast whitespace across the country. This, paired with its record-breaking growth, made now an opportune time to double down on my investment, because while the 1,100 is a cherished milestone, Marco’s will be at 3,000 stores in no time.”

The brand has over 200 stores at various stages of development to reach its target of having 1,500 units by the end of 2023. Marco’s continues to invest in quality leadership, technology, advertising and much more to support its franchisees.

The brand most recently tested its A.I.-powered voice-to-text ordering system, as well as many more technological systems to make operations more effective and efficient.

“The enhancements made in technology and operations is helping fuel franchise development as sophisticated multi-unit franchisees are seeing now as an attractive time to invest,” said Keith Sizemore, vice president of development for Marco’s Pizza.

“We’ve spent a lot of time and investment in streamlining and strengthening our franchise development program to make it as easy as possible for franchisees to grow a robust portfolio with Marco’s, and it’s been remarkable to see Kal do just that as he continues to play a significant role in our growth story.”