Cassano's Pizza King

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Cassano's Pizza King, currently operating under the brand Cassano's, is a pizzeria chain based in Kettering, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton. Established June 4, 1953 by Kettering grocer Victor "Vic" J. Cassano, Sr. (1922 – January 1, 2002) and his mother-in-law Caroline "Mom" Donisi, the company currently operates 34 Cassano's Pizza King restaurants in the Dayton area, and has four other western Ohio franchises (in Russells Point, Piqua, Fairfield, and Sidney), plus a franchise in Quincy, Illinois and another in Hannibal, Missouri. The company also operates dozens of Cassano's Pizza Express kiosks in gas stations, convenience stores, and hotels, and sells frozen pizza dough under the name Cassano's Fresh Frozen Dough Company.

1 Expansion and downsizing
2 Menu
3 Dough sales
4 Trivia
5 External links

[edit] Expansion and downsizing

Cassano's franchises have also previously operated in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia, Michigan, and other U.S. states. The chain had grown to over 100 locations when it was sold to Vic Cassano, Jr., who subsequently sold the company to Greyhound Food Management, Inc. in 1986. Greyhound had planned a massive expansion of the chain, opening 100 to 150 new restaurants per year in order to compete with Domino's Pizza, and did briefly open a number of delivery-only restaurants in Columbus, Ohio. The planned expansion didn't happen, though, and in 1989, Cassano Jr. and Greyhound executive Randy Leasher repurchased the company. Cassano's Pizza Express operations launched in 1999, but business continued to decline. In 2000, Leasher pleaded guilty to embezzling $700,000 from the company, which was down to 48 restaurants at the time. Determined to turn the company around and reaffirm itself in Dayton, Cassano Jr. began refurbishing the pizzerias, adding state-of-the-art ovens and, with the help of sons Chip and Chris, new menu items. A new ad agency was hired and ad spending was boosted by 50 percent. However, more locations had to be closed; only 27 full-service locations remained by mid-2001, at which point the chain began to expand again; there were 29 restaurants at the end of 2001, 33 by August 2002, and 38 by July 2003. Although the company reported a 28 percent increase in orders for its traditional pizzas between March 2003 and March 2004, the number of restaurants had dropped back down to 34 by July 2004.

[edit] Menu

Cassano's traditional pizza, a variation of "Connecticut style," is characterized by its unusually salty, crispy, distinctively flavored thin crust, and is typically cut into small rectangular pieces rather than wedges. A wafer-thin, low-carb, whole-wheat based crust was added to the menu in 2004. Most full-service locations also offer a thick "pan" crust (wedge-cut), subs and other sandwiches, salads, appetizers, and soft drinks.

[edit] Dough sales

Cassano's pizza dough is manufactured at a Kettering facility and flash-frozen before being shipped to restaurants. Frozen dough is also sold under the auspices of Cassano's Fresh Frozen Dough Company to other companies, such as caterers, at wholesale prices.