Dive Brief:
- Marco’s Pizza is investing at least $1 million in a new Operations Center of Excellence in Orlando, Florida, meant to improve franchisee training and operational execution. Construction on the office is expected to be finished by the fall.
- The operations center is an extension of the chain’s Toledo, Ohio, headquarters, according to the press release.
- The chain, which has grown steadily in recent years according to its franchise disclosure document, hopes that improving operator performance will support its domestic and international growth.
Dive Insight:
The new operations center will be a corporate office, training facility and operations hub. The 14,030-square-foot facility has the capacity to host about 50 corporate employees.
The center will have “a fully equipped training kitchen designed to replicate a real Marco's Pizza store kitchen, creating an immersive, hands-on learning environment for franchisees and operators,” according to the press release.
The center will host discovery days for prospective franchisees and serve as the base for “Marco's University, providing advanced training for franchisees and general managers,” the company said. The space will also allow the chain to convene franchisees, corporate leadership and supply chain partners.
Marco’s store count grew by 25 units in 2025, reaching 1,184 U.S. locations, and the chain is projecting 71 franchised U.S. openings in 2026, per its franchise disclosure document. A new training facility should help support that pace of expansion.
While Marco’s is headquartered in Ohio, it has major markets closer to Orlando, with 162 franchised Florida stores and 117 franchised Georgia locations at the start of 2026 according to its FDD.
Other major chains are opening secondary headquarters in the Southeast to bring their training and support operations closer to growth markets.
Starbucks, for instance, is developing a $100 million Nashville HQ that will eventually employ 2,000 workers. In 2023, Subway opened a second corporate office in Miami, complete with a test kitchen, to supplement its Connecticut HQ. In-N-Out Burger is developing a Tennessee office to support its growth east of the Rockies. Shake Shack is opening both a corporate support center and a new flagship restaurant in Atlanta.
