Donatos Pizza
Donatos Pizzeria, LLCDonatos Pizza is a pizza delivery restaurant chain headquartered in Gahanna, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. It has nearly 200 locations in eight states, with the majority of locations in Ohio. Donatos is also served at several venue outlets including Ohio Stadium and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
In 1963, Ohio State sophomore Jim Grote purchased the original Donatos 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 would like to be treated". These principles led to the creation of the official brand promise To serve the best pizza and make your day a little better.â€
In 1999, Donatos was purchased by McDonald's in an attempt to enter the pizza industry. A majority interest in Donatos was repurchased by Jim Grote and daughter Jane Abell in 2003 as McDonald's sought to refocus on its core business. During this period Donatos also had operations in Munich, Germany.
Today, Donatos operates in eight states: Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
Donatos is known for its thin crust pizza "loaded edge to edge" with toppings, particularly its large pepperoni pizza that includes 100+ pepperoni slices. In 2009, Donatos launched a hand-tossed pie-cut crust option. In addition to pizza, Donatos serves subs, salads, and wings.
In 2004, the company introduced Donatos take and bake pizza in Kroger supermarkets. The take and bake concept offers a limited menu of their Signature Pizzas, including two certified gluten-free options. They are sold in several varieties including pepperoni, pepperoni & sausage, and cheese.
In 2013, Donatos was the subject of an episode of the CBS reality television show Undercover Boss. During the episode (Season 5, episode 3, air date October 11, 2013), Jane Grote Abell, the Chairperson of Donatos and daughter of its founder Jim Grote, went undercover posing as a contestant on a reality TV show who is trying to win money to open her own restaurant. During her first assignment at the Donatos store located at Ohio State University (where she had actually attended college during the 1980s), Abell's cover was blown in her first few minutes by the manager of the store who immediately recognized her despite wearing glasses and a brunette wig over her normally blonde hair, though she was able to convince the manager to keep her identity a secret for the purposes of the show.
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