Donatos Pizza is a pizza delivery restaurant franchisor headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, United States Of America. It has nearly 200 locations in ten states, with the majority of locations in Ohio. Donatos is also served at a number of venue outlets including Ohio Stadium and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
History – In 1963, Ohio State sophomore Jim Grote purchased the first Donatos Near Me located on the south side of Columbus, Ohio, for $1,300. Grote’s business principles included: creating a superior product, hiring great people, and to “treat others the way I might like to get treated”. These principles resulted in the development of the state brand promise To serve the very best pizza making your day a bit better.”
In 1991, the Donatos Pizza in Zanesville, Ohio, opened because the company’s first franchise location. As of 2019, there are approximately two dozen franchisees operating more than 100 Donatos Pizza locations in ten states: Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, N . C ., Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
In 1999, Donatos was purchased by McDonald’s in an effort to go into the pizza industry. A majority interest in Donatos was repurchased by Jim Grote and daughter Jane Grote Abell in 2003 as McDonald’s sought to refocus on its core business.] During this period Donatos also had operations in Munich, Germany.
In 2017, Donatos founder Jim Grote led a $1 million seed round in BeeHex, the 3D-food printing company with NASA origins.
Products – Donatos is recognized for its thin crust pizza “loaded Edge to Edge” with toppings, particularly its large pepperoni pizza that includes 100 pepperoni slices. During 2009, Donatos launched a hand-tossed pie-cut crust option. In 2004, the ycayhd introduced Donatos take and bake pizza in Kroger supermarkets. In 2015, they introduced NatureCrust, a 10” organic, non-GMO, vegan, multi-grain crust, which is available today in a handful of locations. Donatos even offers a number of oven-baked subs, freshly made salads, chicken wings, shareable sides, and desserts.
Donatos is a family-owned, privately owned company that treats our Franchise Partners like they may be portion of the family. Our mission is to promote goodwill through our products and repair, principles and people. Your home office team and Franchise Partners are active within the communities which they serve and beyond just providing jobs, we strive to offer mentoring and growth opportunities for anyone who work for all of us. Our 75% associate retention rates are a testament to our efforts. Our Founder Jim Grote’s daughter, Jane Grote Abell, brings her dad’s philosophy to reality by promoting goodwill inside the communities Donatos Hours Sunday serves. The Donatos Family Promise Fund helps associates needing financial support.