Delta calls Marco’s Pizza Franchise, Turns Diverted Flight into Pizza Party

Why a Delta flight crew turned to Marco’s Pizza franchise to feed a plane of hungry passengers

A delayed flight can make even the most tolerant of travelers a little peeved. In the case of one recent Delta flight, the passengers were able to celebrate their delay with Ah!thentic Marco’s Pizza®, proving that pizza can make any situation a little bit better.

According to the Knoxville News Sentinel, driving rainstorms diverted a Delta flight en route to Atlanta, forcing it to land in Knoxville. The hungry passengers were pleasantly surprised when, instead of being handed bags of peanuts, the Delta crew ordered 55 boxes of Marco’s Pizza, creating an impromptu pizza party on the plane.

“We got this really big Web order for the pizzas,” says Jonathan Jenkins, manager at the Marco’s Pizza franchise location responsible for the order.

The article highlights the reason the Delta crew decided to place the $600 order with Marco’s and not with one of our competitors. Our Ah!thentic Italian pizza is not only layered thickly with the best ingredients, but it is also extremely quick to make — our conveyor ovens can have a pizza in its box in about five minutes. Delta’s order was completed and delivered in 30.

News of the diverted Delta flight Marco’s Pizza party went viral; passengers captured video of the unexpected fun and uploaded it to Twitter. The pizza party became such a sensation that CNN reported on the story.

We’re growing in every direction around the globe

Travelers soon will be able to get their favorite Marco’s Pizza at many more locations around the world. We opened our 500th store in June 2014 and have already reached 630 locations. We are on track to have 1,000 stores across the country by early 2017. The pace of our growth in the U.S. is exceeding projections by 40%, making us the nation’s fastest-growing pizza chain.

Plans are under way to serve growing international demand with new franchise deals pending in Saudi Arabia, Africa, and Asia..

“We’re really beefing up our infrastructure and support systems to keep pace with all the growth,” says Cameron Cummins, Marco’s Vice President of Franchise Development.

In India alone, Marco’s Pizza multi-unit franchise owner and area developer DJ Patel plans to open 400 locations in that country of 1.25 billion people.

There has never been a better time to open a Marco’s Pizza franchise

One exciting aspect of the Marco’s Pizza franchise opportunity is that great locations are available nationwide. The biggest competing chains have drained their growth potential by saturating their markets with thousands of stores. There may be demand for their product, but there is limited territory. Marco’s, however, has prime territories available for new franchises and is rapidly gaining market share in the $46 billion annual U.S. pizza market, according to CHD Expert.

Opening a Marco’s Pizza franchise is relatively inexpensive compared with the cost of starting other casual dining restaurants, and owners don’t need to have restaurant experience. Marco’s educates our franchise owners on everything they need to know.

Marco’s Pizza, the fastest-growing pizza franchise in the country, prides itself in keeping Marco’s at the top of the better pizza category. Marco’s pizza is handmade in the Italian tradition, using fresh, never-frozen cheeses, making the dough in stores daily and using only premium meats and vegetables. Founded in Toledo in 1978, Marco’s is the only Top 20 pizza chain founded by a native Italian.

Learn more about Marco’s Pizza

For in-depth details about the Marco’s franchise opportunity, download our free franchise report. You can also learn more by visiting our research pages.