Private () | |
Founded | 1959 Menlo Park, California, United States |
Founder | William R. Larson |
Headquarters | Concord, California, United States |
Number of locations
|
500+ |
Website | www |
Round Table Pizza is a large chain of pizza parlors in the western United States. The company's headquarters are located in Concord, California.
The company was founded in 1959 by William R. Larson Sr. in Menlo Park, California.
In 1961 a friend of Larson's drew some sketches of members of King Arthur's court eating pizza, and Mr. Larson then adopted the King Arthur theme for his restaurants. The three shields in the official logo were added in 1970, and are intended to symbolize the letters "F-U-N." Round Table Pizza began to expand through franchising. Larson sold his restaurants to a group of investors in 1979.
From around 2003 until 2005, Round Table Pizza's official mascots were two muppets, Matt and Marcus, who appeared in the company's television commercials. In 2007, Round Table Pizza's mascot became the Pizza Knight, "defender of family night." Since that time, other spokespersons have been featured, including Billy Gardell. Currently, the company features product images in its video commercials that emphasize the quality and freshness of its ingredients. Round Table’s signature tagline, "The Last Honest Pizza", describes its commitment to quality and authenticity.
As of 2016, there were more than 450 franchised and company-owned locations, located in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. Round Table Pizza now has seven branches in Dubai and additional locations in Bahrain and Mongolia. In 2014, the company signed a 35-store development agreement to build restaurants in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Qatar.
In 2011, the company filed for protection under Chapter 11 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and emerged from bankruptcy the same year. The Consensual Plan of Reorganization provides for 100 percent repayment of obligations to its secured and unsecured creditors and for its employee owners to retain 100 percent ownership of the company. Since then, the company met all obligations and its financial strength steadily improved with the retirement of debt and the increase in cash flow.