Marco’s Pizza Targets Over 80 New Store Openings in 2026
Marco’s Pizza reported the opening of more than 60 new stores in 2025 and plans to surpass 80 new store openings in 2026. Growth is set to continue across new domestic markets, international territories, and nontraditional venues. The company is implementing advanced digital tools, operational enhancements, and menu innovations as part of its expansion strategy.
In 2025, Marco’s Pizza expanded into New Jersey and signed a development agreement for New Mexico. The company marked anniversaries in Mexico and Puerto Rico and is exploring new international opportunities, including growth in the Caribbean and Latin America. Expansion into ghost kitchens and alternative real estate formats continued during the year.
Marco’s Pizza made several executive appointments in 2025, including Brad Smith as Vice President of Franchise Growth, Bill Schaffler as Chief Financial Officer, and Steve Kennedy as Chief Marketing Officer. The company identified strategic vendor relationships to streamline store-level operations, resulting in supply chain cost savings.
Enhancements to the digital ecosystem were made to improve the guest journey and support franchisee operations. Marco’s Pizza received an AVA Digital Gold Level Award for its ordering platform and website redesign. The company also received recognition from FRANdata for the highest FUND Score among all QSR concepts and No. 1 in the pizza category, ranked No. 50 in the 2026 Entrepreneur Franchise 500, was named America’s favorite pizza chain by Technomic, was listed as a best franchise deal by QSR, and received a reader’s choice best pizza chain award from Newsweek.
For 2026, Marco’s Pizza is focusing on scalable growth and franchisee support, targeting more than 80 new store openings, expansion into new territories, and continued development in domestic and international markets. The company is developing an Operations Center of Excellence to enhance systemwide training, operational consistency, and performance. Plans include an updated loyalty program and exploration of AI-powered ordering capabilities. New menu innovations are scheduled for introduction in 2026 under the culinary leadership of Chef Kathleen Kennedy. International and nontraditional growth will continue, with further expansion planned in Mexico and the Caribbean, as well as in nontraditional formats such as ghost kitchens.
Marco’s Pizza introduced the Franchise Development Royalty Incentive Program to support franchise expansion, offering early-stage royalty incentives starting at 0% for qualified multi-unit owners. The program includes support in real estate, construction, and operations. According to the company’s Franchise Disclosure Document, the top 25% of franchised stores reported an average unit volume of $1.3 million in 2024. This figure is based on the average sales volume of the top-performing 25% of franchised stores open during the 2024 fiscal year, excluding international locations, stores not open for the full 52-week period, special-venue and nontraditional franchised locations, and stores that closed in 2024.
Eligibility for the incentive program requires signing a development agreement and opening stores within specific timeframes, including opening the first store within 365 days of signing and subsequent stores within six months of each prior opening.
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