---
title: "Young Ones to Watch: Ryan Rao, Chief Franchising Officer for Romeo’s Pizza"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/f51d8c81-a1ca-4661-b679-fdef41190f1c
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/young-ones-to-watch-ryan-rao-chief-franchising-officer-for-romeos-pizza-2716796
category: "Pizza"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Pizza"
topics: ["People"]
published: 2021-10-01T20:15:00.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T01:37:40.796Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/89ac9d5aa6de9629af6fe72137e1c0d13403.jpg
---

# Young Ones to Watch: Ryan Rao, Chief Franchising Officer for Romeo’s Pizza

**TL;DR:** Ryan Rao, Chief Franchising Officer for Romeo's Pizza, shares his experience and advice for young professionals in the franchising industry. Rao has helped grow the Romeo's Pizza brand to 50 locations and aims to expand to 60-65 open stores by the end of the year.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2021-10-01. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/young-ones-to-watch-ryan-rao-chief-franchising-officer-for-romeos-pizza-2716796).*

## Story

Ryan Rao is the head of development for the Ohio-based chain Romeo’s Pizza . In 2013, Rao’s father acquired a Romeo’s Pizza franchise along with a business partner, Ryan Rose . During that time, Rao started to learn about the Romeo’s brand and the ins and outs of franchising. In 2015, Rose ended up acquiring the brand, and Rao started in a franchise sales capacity for the corporate team.

Today, Rao has helped grow the Romeo’s Pizza brand to 50 locations. Now, following a pandemic-fueled boom in the pizza delivery segment, Rao is spearheading Romeo Pizza’s mission to expand its footprint to 60–65 open stores by the end of the year.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to have quite a few mentors in franchising, some of whom started early with brands and helped develop 1,000-plus location systems,” said Rao. “No matter your profession, it is very important to seek those mentors out, ask questions and continue a dialogue in order to soak up all the information you can. You are only going to learn so much in your own role, so if you can enlist the help of those who have been there previously, it is a great starting point for anyone entering the industry.”

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- unit expansion (topic)
- franchising industry (topic)
- Ryan Rose (person)
- pizza delivery (topic)
- Ryan Rao (person)

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Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/young-ones-to-watch-ryan-rao-chief-franchising-officer-for-romeos-pizza-2716796). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/f51d8c81-a1ca-4661-b679-fdef41190f1c).