Godfather's Pizza

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Godfather's Pizza

Type	Private
Founded	1973
Headquarters	Omaha, Nebraska
Industry	Food
Website	www.godfathers.com

Godfather's Pizza is an Italian restaurant chain that was founded in Omaha, Nebraska in 1973 by William Theisen. The company was sold by Theisen to Pillsbury in the mid 1980s and Theisen stepped down from actively managing the company. In 1986 Pillsbury named Herman Cain, who had turned around the fortunes of their struggling Burger King chain of restaurants, CEO and President of the brand. Cain in turn led a group to purchase the Godfathers brand from Pillsbury, which they did by the beginning of 1990. Cain stepped down from his CEO and President position in the company in 2002.

The restaurants serve a wide variety of pizzas and have an inexpensive salad bar and buffet. The chain is also known for their commercials featuring "The Godfather," a knock-off of the Marlon Brando character from the film The Godfather. "The Godfather" has been played by different actors, but typically wears a white fedora hat, a pin-stripe suit and a flower on his jacket. He also uses the sayings "A pizza you CAN'T refuse!", "Do It!" and "I know your neighborhood."

Contrary to what some people have stated on here on the past, Bill Koll, not boxing historian/actor Burt Sugar was the original Godfather. ^[1] During those years his commercials were where the phrase, "Do it!" came from.