TOLEDO, Ohio, June 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Marco's Pizza, one of the nation's fastest-growing pizza brands, has been named Pizza Restaurant Brand of the Year according to the 2019 Harris Poll EquiTrend Study. In addition, it has been designated Most Loved and Most Trusted Pizza Restaurant Brand by consumers. This comes in a year of speedy growth for the franchise as it rapidly approaches 1,000 locations.
In the last year, Marco's Pizza brand equity – a combination of familiarity, quality and purchase consideration – increased 10 percentage points, according to the study. Its brand equity scored higher than all other pizza restaurant brands including Domino's, Pizza Hut, Little Caesars and Papa John's.
"With our continued commitment to our founder Pasquale Giammarco's original recipe and focus on quality, Marco's Pizza has stayed true to its Italian roots since 1978 and we are thrilled Americans confirmed its their favorite pizza restaurant brand," said Marco's Pizza President and COO Tony Libardi. "As we approach opening our 1,000th location, we look forward to continuing to provide consumers with high-quality pizza every day, the Italian way."
The Harris Poll's 31st Annual EquiTrend Study reveals the strongest brands across the media, travel, financial, automotive, entertainment, retail, restaurant, technology, household and nonprofit industries, based on consumer response. Brands ranking highest in equity receive the Harris Poll EquiTrend "Brand of the Year" award for their respective categories, with Marco's Pizza taking the top spot in the pizza restaurant category.
"This year we added nearly 100 new brands across 11 new categories from voice-assistants to wearable tech. Yet the common thread that runs across all the brands awarded here is their consumer devotion and respect for —and expectation of —performance," said Harris Poll CEO, John Gerzema. "These are brands Americans especially love and expect great things from in the future."
As the only major national pizza restaurant founded by a native Italian, Marco's Pizza has carved out a niche in the industry for authentic Italian quality pizza, known for its fresh dough made daily onsite, a proprietary cheese blend that is fresh, never-frozen, and a secret original pizza sauce recipe from its founder Pat Giammarco.
For more information on Marco's Pizza franchise opportunities, visit www.marcosfranchising.com or call 866-731-8209.
About Marco's Pizza
Headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, Marco's Pizza is one of the fastest-growing pizza companies in the United States. Marco's was founded in 1978 by Italian-born Pasquale ("Pat") Giammarco and thrives by making authentic Italian quality pizza with fresh ingredients. The company has grown from its roots as a beloved Ohio brand to operate 900 plus stores in over 34 states and in three countries. Most recently, Marco's Pizza was ranked No. 5 in Forbes "Best Franchises to Buy" 2018 Study/Medium Investment, and No. 25 on Entrepreneur's 2018 Franchise 500 ranking. Other recent accolades include ranking No. 2 on Entrepreneur's 2018 Top 200 Food and Restaurant Franchises in the pizza segment, and No. 8 on the Military Times Best: Franchises 2018 list. Marco's Pizza has been named the Pizza Restaurant Brand of the Year, and Most Loved and Most Trusted Pizza Restaurant Brand by consumers, according to the 2019 Harris Poll EquiTrend® Study.
About Harris Poll EquiTrend®
The 2019 Harris Poll EquiTrend Study is based on a sample of 45,541 US consumers ages 15 and over surveyed online in the month of January. The total number of brands rated was 1,985. Each respondent was asked to rate a total of 40 randomly selected brands. Each brand received approximately 1,000 ratings. Data was weighted to be representative of the entire U.S. population of consumers ages 15 and over based on age by sex, education, race/ethnicity, region, income, and data from respondents ages 18 and over were also weighted for their propensity to be online. Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Poll surveys. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in our panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
SOURCE Marco’s Pizza
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