Pizzeria Uno
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| Private | |
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Founded |
Chicago, Illinois, U.S. 1943 |
| Founders |
Ike Sewell G.I. Ric Riccardo |
| Headquarters | Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Parent | Uno Restaurant Holdings Corporation |
| Website | unos |
Uno Pizzeria & Grill (formerly Pizzeria Uno and Uno Chicago Grill), or more informally as Unos, is the title for a franchised pizzeria restaurant chain under the parent company Uno Restaurant Holdings Corporation. Uno Pizzeria and Grill is best known for its thick-crusted Chicago-style pizza. Ike Sewell opened the first Pizzeria Uno in 1943.
The first Uno's was established in 1943 by former University of Texas football star Ike Sewell and his friend, former World War II G.I. Ric Riccardo, in the River North neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Sewell originally intended to open a Mexican restaurant because "there wasn't a really decent Mexican restaurant in Chicago then."
While Sewell and Riccardo are known as the owners of the original restaurant, a 1956 article from the Chicago Daily News asserts that the original deep-dish pizza recipe was created by chef Rudy Malnati Sr., the father of Lou Malnati. Pizzeria Uno claims to have originated the deep dish pizza.
Sewell opened two additional restaurants in response to Pizzeria Uno's popularity. Pizzeria Due opened one block north of the original Pizzeria Uno location in 1955 (Uno and Due are Italian for one and two). This was followed by the launch of Su Casa, an upscale Mexican restaurant, in 1965. Su Casa is located adjacent to Pizzeria Due.
Ike Sewell first franchised the name and concept of the restaurant to the Uno Restaurant Holdings Corporation in 1978 in the Boston area. Beginning with four restaurants in Massachusetts, the chain rapidly expanded over the next decade. After Ike Sewell's death in 1990, his widow Florence sold the original properties (Uno, Due, and Su Casa) to the Boston-based corporation. CEO Aaron Spencer promised not to tamper with pizza at the original locations. Ironically, the restaurant chain does not have a major presence in the Chicago Metropolitan Area, with only two locations in the region excluding the original Uno, Due, and Su Casa restaurants in River North. As of December 2014, Massachusetts, with 27, had the most Uno restaurants.
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Wikipedia