News

Marco's puts franchisee in CDO role

November 20, 2018

Marco's Pizza has promoted one of the brand's area representatives and franchisees to fill the chain's chief development officer role as the brand approaches opening its one-thousandth store, a news release said. Ron Stilwell will oversee all Marco's Pizza franchise sales, real estate and construction for all new locations.

Over the last two years, Stilwell built six locations and learned the ins and outs of the brand and its people. Prior to joining Marco's Pizza, he spent 35 years working in the industry with brands like Taco Bell, Kahala Corp., Peter Piper Pizza and Red Robin.

"Ron knows what it takes to be a part of the Marco's Pizza family and what our franchisees need in order to see success," Marco's President and COO Tony Libardi said in the release. "Ron will help develop a new system to streamline development processes in an effort to attract more multi-unit owned stores and reduce the cost of build-out so economic models remain strong for the franchisee, while assuring customers have a primo experience."

The Marco's brand  currently is opening a new store every three to four days, according to the release, but will increase that pace "significantly" in 2019 with a goal of 1,500 units open by late 2020.