Romeo's Pizza

What Romeo's Pizza does

Romeo's Pizza Franchise, LLC is a privately held quick-service pizza franchise founded in 2001 in Medina, Ohio, operating 50+ corporate and franchise locations across Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Texas. The company's core offering is handcrafted pizza built on three proprietary inputs: dough made fresh in-house daily and hand-stretched to order, a Signature Sweet Sauce produced daily from vine-ripened California tomatoes fresh-packed within 10 hours of harvest, and a Wisconsin cheese blend. Supporting menu categories include specialty pizzas, build-your-own options with multiple crust variants (Traditional, Thincredible, Loaded, Gluten-Free, Cauliflower), oven-baked subs on Amoroso rolls, bone-in and boneless wings, hand-stretched breadsticks, salads, strombolis/calzones, desserts, and Coca-Cola beverages, plus a sheet-pizza catering offering for group events.

The company operates a dual GTM: a B2C consumer channel via dine-in, carryout, delivery, website ordering, and native iOS/Android mobile apps; and a B2B franchise channel that sells franchise rights to qualified entrepreneurs (requiring $100K liquidity and $250K net worth, a $30K one-time franchise fee, and a $340,800-$705,500 startup investment) and supports them through the FranFast franchise management platform built on Salesforce. Revenue is generated from one-time franchise fees, ongoing royalties on franchisee sales (with median franchise unit sales above $800K), direct corporate-store operations, and technology-enabled ordering through Adora POS. Brand-building efforts include partnerships with Beyond Meat (plant-based menu), the Arbor Day Foundation and 2nd & 7 Foundation (community/environmental), MMA champion Stipe Miocic (part-owner of the Parma, Ohio location), and an industry awards profile including "Best Gour Pizza in America," "Best Pizza in the Midwest" (twice), and Top 100 Pizza Companies by Pizza Today Magazine.

Name

Romeo's Pizza

Legal name

Romeo's Pizza Franchise, LLC

Website

https://romeospizza.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Romeo's Pizza is a privately held pizza franchise founded in 2001 in Medina, Ohio, operating 50+ locations across Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Texas. It sells handcrafted pizzas with proprietary sweet sauce to individual consumers and families, and franchises to qualified entrepreneurs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Quick-Service Pizza Restaurants

akta.pro primary industry

Pizza QSR (THAFAAAB)

Keywords

• Pizza restaurant franchise
• Handcrafted pizza
• Quick service pizza
• Pizza delivery carryout
• Pizza franchise opportunities

Headquarters

HQ city

Cleveland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Franchise Fees: One-time franchise fee of $30,000 covering training, advertising, and support services for new franchisees.
2. Franchise Royalties: Ongoing royalties from franchise locations. Median franchise sales volume exceeds $800K with same-store sales growth of greater than $760,001 year-over-year.
3. Corporate Store Operations: Direct operation of corporate stores generating revenue from walk-in customers, delivery, and carryout orders. Technology-enabled ordering through website, mobile apps, and in-store systems.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Romeo's Pizza is a quick-service pizza franchise company that handcrafts and sells gourmet pizzas, subs, wings, strombolis, salads, sides, and desserts through corporate and franchise restaurant locations, supplemented by direct online ordering, mobile apps, delivery, carryout, dine-in service, catering, and a customer loyalty rewards program. The company also licenses its brand and operating system to franchisees via a $30,000 franchise fee plus ongoing royalties.

Product overview

Romeo's Pizza is a restaurant franchise offering a unified food service platform centered on handcrafted pizzas. The core product portfolio includes specialty gourmet pizzas (such as Romeo's Deluxe, Butcher Shop, Buffalo Chicken, Tuscan Pepperoni, Veggie Deluxe, and Italiano Deep Dish) alongside build-your-own pizzas with multiple crust options (Traditional, Thincredible, Loaded, Gluten-Free, Cauliflower). Supporting menu categories include oven-baked subs on Amoroso rolls, bone-in and boneless wings in multiple sauces, hand-stretched breadsticks and starters, fresh salads, strombolis and calzones, desserts (cookies and cinnamon breadsticks), and Coca-Cola beverages. The company also operates online ordering and a rewards/loyalty program as customer-facing services, with catering capabilities for group events. All pizzas feature dough made fresh in-house daily, a signature sweet sauce made from California tomatoes, and Wisconsin cheese blend.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Specialty Pizzas Pre-designed gourmet pizzas with specific topping profiles, including Romeo's Deluxe, Dante's Peak, Butcher Shop Pizza, Tuscan Pepperoni, Pepperoni Feast, Buffalo Chicken, Great Ranch and Potato, New York White, Veggie Deluxe, and Italiano Deep Dish, built on fresh daily dough, Signature Sweet Sauce, and Wisconsin cheese blend.
• Build Your Own Pizza Customizable pizzas allowing customers to select their crust (Traditional, Thincredible, Loaded, Gluten-Free, Cauliflower), Signature Sweet Sauce, Wisconsin cheese, and 20+ toppings including meats, vegetables, and specialty toppings.
• Oven-Baked Subs Ten-inch oven-toasted subs on Amoroso rolls with options including Italian, Turkey, Meatball, Philly Cheese Steak, Buffalo Chicken, Chicken Club, Godfather, Club, Steak Burger, Italian Burger, and Veggie varieties.
• Wings Chicken wings available as traditional bone-in (5, 10, 15, 20, 25 pieces hand-spun in sauce) or boneless (8, 12, 20 pieces with sauce on the side), with sauces including Garlic Parmesan, Medium Buffalo, Hot Buffalo, Sweet Chili, Smokehouse BBQ, and Spicy Garlic.
• Strombolis and Calzones Oven-baked Italian favorites including Build Your Own, Pepperoni Maniac, Original Meat, Sicilian, Cheese Maniac, and Veggie varieties, with add-ons of extra sauce, chicken, steak, bacon, and extra cheese.
• Salads Fresh salads including Antipasto, Chef, Chicken Club, and Garden varieties served with Italian, Ranch, Blue Cheese, Lite Italian, or Balsamic Vinaigrette dressings and add-ons such as crispy or grilled chicken, bacon, Wisconsin Cheese Blend, or extra dressing.
• Starters and Sides Hand-stretched breadsticks (Classic, Cheese with sharp cheddar and Wisconsin blend, Bacon Cheese) served warm with Signature Sweet Sauce, plus Jo Jos, Mozzarella Sticks, Garlic Bread with or without cheese, and chicken tenders.
• Desserts Sweet menu items including Chocolate Chunk Cookies (four chewy cookies with rich dark chocolate chunks) and Extreme Cinnamon Breadsticks (freshly baked with sweet vanilla icing).
• Sheet Pizza Large-format pizzas for groups available in half-sheet (20 slices, serves 6–8) or full-sheet (40 slices, serves 12–16), with fresh daily dough, Signature Sweet Sauce, and premium Wisconsin cheese.
• Beyond Chicken Tenders by Beyond Meat Plant-based chicken tenders offered as Romeo's debut plant-based menu item in partnership with Beyond Meat, positioned as an excellent source of protein with 40% less saturated fat than leading plant-based alternatives.
• Catering Catering services for groups and events featuring gourmet pizzas, wings, stromboli, breadsticks, and signature dipping sauces, ordered via location-specific online ordering systems.
• Online Ordering Customer-facing digital ordering system accessible via romeospizza.com and locations.romeospizza.com with location-based store selection, real-time menu availability, and ordering for delivery or carryout, refreshed in mid-2025 through a new Adora POS rollout.
• Romero's Pizza Rewards Program Customer loyalty program where members earn 1 point per $1 spent, receive 25 enrollment bonus points, a $10 reward at 100 points, $5 off on enrollment anniversary, $3 off on birthday, and double points on select promotional days.
• Romeo's Pizza Franchise Program Franchise offering for qualified entrepreneurs requiring $100K minimum liquidity and $250K minimum net worth, with a $30,000 franchise fee and a $340,800–$705,500 total startup investment covering real estate, site selection, architectural plans, equipment, and POS setup; supported by ongoing training, marketing, area representative development, and the FranFast Salesforce-based franchise management suite.

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Stipe MiociccoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 4 October 2022Strategic partnership with six-time MMA champion Stipe Miocic, a Cleveland firefighter, who became part-owner of the Parma, Ohio location. Miocic supports brand-building efforts nationally through promotional content, appearances, and customized campaigns. Includes charitable components and community engagement activities.
• Arbor Day FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProud sponsor of the Arbor Day Foundation as part of Pizza with a Purpose initiative. Committed to environmental sustainability - replaced 750,000 plastic containers with recyclable options in 2019, reaching 2 million replaced to date. Committed to planting 5,000 trees through Time for Trees initiative in Florida watershed areas affected by Hurricane Michael.
• 2nd & 7 FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerReading Program Partner helping 2nd & 7 Foundation write, illustrate, and publish over 90,000 books annually. Presenting sponsor of annual football camp. Partnership promotes reading by providing free books and positive role models to kids in need while encouraging young athletes to pay it forward.
• Beyond MeatminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to launch plant-based Beyond Chicken Tenders as debut plant-based menu item. Beyond Chicken Tenders are an excellent source of protein with 14g per serving, have 40% less saturated fat, and are made with no GMOs. Partnership supports brand values to positively impact communities and environment.
• FranFastcoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership with FranFast, complete Franchise Management Suite built on Salesforce platform. Goal to successfully onboard new franchisees awarded over 8 months in Colorado, Texas, Ohio, Florida and Nigeria. FranFast provides franchise development manager, new store opening tracker, franchise compliance tracker, and franchise communities.
• Adora POScoreTechnology or IntegrationExclusive point-of-sale platform provided to franchisees for store management. New Adora POS system rollout beginning at select locations with faster, easier online ordering experience, new rewards program, and improved mobile app integration.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Jet's Pizza: Detroit-based deep-dish and square pizza franchise with hundreds of locations across the Midwest and Eastern U.S. Comparable regional pizza franchise with similar product format, counter-service model, and expansion-from-Michigan footprint.
• Papa John's: National pizza franchise chain with strong franchise growth model and ingredient-quality positioning (dough, sauce). Closely comparable to Romeo's on product, franchise-based GTM, and category focus, but at significantly greater scale.
• Marco's Pizza: Toledo, Ohio-based pizza franchise chain with ~1,000+ locations and similar Midwest-rooted brand identity. One of the closest direct comparables to Romeo's on geography, premium positioning, and franchise-led growth profile.
• Mountain Mike's Pizza: California-based pizza franchise chain with 200+ locations and aggressive multi-state expansion. Comparable on premium product positioning, franchise-driven growth model, and similar unit-count trajectory to Romeo's.
• Donatos Pizza: Columbus, Ohio-founded pizza chain known for edge-to-edge toppings, operating both company-owned and franchised locations. Highly comparable to Romeo's given shared Ohio heritage, premium positioning, and franchise model.

Emerging players

• Blaze Pizza: Fast-casual build-your-own pizza chain with hundreds of franchised and company-owned locations. Compares on pizza-centric menu and franchise model, though positioned at a higher price point with assembly-style service rather than delivery/carryout as primary channels.
• MOD Pizza: Fast-casual assemble-your-own pizza chain with national footprint and franchise/company-store mix. Adjacent peer given shared pizza focus, though MOD skews toward dine-in/assembly channels versus Romeo's QSR delivery/carryout model.

Broad incumbents

• Domino's Pizza: Largest U.S. pizza QSR franchise operator with national scale, dominant digital ordering infrastructure, and ~$18B+ system sales. Directly comparable as a pizza QSR franchise, but vastly larger in unit count and brand reach than Romeo's.
• Pizza Hut: Long-established national pizza QSR chain with dine-in, carryout, and delivery, owned by Yum! Brands. Comparable as a multi-channel pizza franchise system, though broader in menu and dine-in orientation than Romeo's.

Regional players

• LaRosa's Pizzeria: Cincinnati, Ohio-based family pizza restaurant chain with company-owned and franchised locations. Comparable as a regional, Ohio-anchored pizza concept with strong community identity, though smaller scale than Romeo's franchise system.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Romeospizza
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@RomeosPizzaInc
• Facebookfacebook.com/romeospizzafranchise
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/romeo's-pizza
• Instagraminstagram.com/romeospizza

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Romeo's Pizza