US-based pizza brand Marco’s Pizza has announced strong mid-year growth and performance with more than 50 openings and 50-plus signed franchise agreements year-to-date.
Marco’s expansion in multi-unit domestic, international and non-traditional locations has enabled the company to propel closer towards its 1200th store milestone.
The company noted that its leadership team has also identified 4,200 potential locations in the US to further expand the company’s footprint in the country.
As part of the growth strategy, Marco’s plans to focus on the non-traditional segment and international expansion.
Marco's Pizza chief development officer Gerardo Flores said: “Expanding into non-traditional spaces fits nicely into our future development plans.
“Non-traditional locations allow Marco's to expand its geographic footprint quickly because of the smaller square footage and lower startup costs than a traditional Marco's location.
“Pair this with a concentrated population and high-volume foot traffic and we see why franchisees are interested in these opportunities.”
The brand is also concentrating on international growth and added that several large master franchise agreements are currently in the pipeline.
In the near future, Marco’s plans to focus on the opportunities in the Latin America region, as well as in Europe and Canada.
As part of its development strategy, the restaurant brand intends to focus on single and multi-unit growth by partnering with new and existing franchisees.
The company has also decided to invest more than $7m in qualified existing franchisees' development to further grow its multi-unit ownership by 10% year-over-year.
Flores added: “Marco's is currently undergoing some of our greatest expansion to date. We now have more than 200 stores in various stages of development and hundreds of agreements signed.
“As we continue to grow our global footprint, we are looking to expand most aggressively in the mid-Atlantic, southeast and southwest of the US, in addition to internationally.”
