| Industry | Fast food |
|---|---|
| Fate | Acquisition |
| Founded | 1957 (Dundalk, Maryland) |
| Defunct | 1982 (Revived in 2010) |
| Headquarters | King of Prussia, Pennsylvania |
| Number of locations | 3 |
| Key people | Gino Marchetti (Chain's namesake), Tom Romano (C.O.O. in 1982) |
| Products | Fast food (including Hamburgers, French fries, and Fried chicken) |
| Website | www.ginosgiant.com |
Gino's Hamburgers was a fast-food restaurant chain founded in Baltimore, Maryland, by Baltimore Colts defensive end Gino Marchetti and running back Alan Ameche, along with their close friend Louis Fischer, in 1957. In Dundalk, Maryland, just outside Baltimore, it got its official name in 1959 when the owners brought on Colts' captain Gino Marchetti. It was an East Coast regional fast food restaurant and had 359 company-owned locations when it was acquired by Marriott Corporation in 1982. Marriott discontinued the brand and converted locations to their Roy Rogers Restaurants chain.[1] The last Gino's, located in Pasadena, Maryland and owned independently from Marriott, closed in 1986.
The restaurant was known for high quality hamburgers such as the Sirloiner, which was made from sirloin steak, and the Gino Giant, which predated and later competed with the Big Mac. The company held the franchise for Kentucky Fried Chicken in the middle-Atlantic states. The company’s jingle, played during radio advertisements in the early years was “Everybody goes to Gino’s, ‘cause Gino’s is the place to go!"[2]
The original menu included french fries made fresh in each restaurant. One of the last menu changes included burgers made from fresh ground beef each morning, unique in the fast food industry at the time.
The company also became known for its philanthropic efforts.[3] The executives of the company supported many educational, cultural, recreational, and athletic programs. This made the community and the company tied with the common goal of trying to help the youth.
Marchetti, Romano, and Fischer plan to open new Gino's restaurants beginning in 2010, with franchise information now available. Marchetti and Fischer will be serving as consultants. The new restaurants plan to serve burgers, chicken sandwiches, hand-cut french fries and hand-spun milkshakes. Initially, the chain plans to open locations in Pennsylvania and Maryland.[4]
In charge is Tom Romano, who worked for 20 years with the company, and was C.O.O. in 1982 when the chain was sold. "It's apparent there's a need for better burgers out there," said Romano, citing the success of such chains as Five Guys, and Gino's Burgers and Chicken has placed itself upscale of the earlier Gino's. Gino's plans to make its burgers to order from fresh beef.[5]
Their first location opened in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, the same town as the original chain's headquarters, on October 25, 2010.[6] Plans were announced in Spring 2011 for franchise expansion into Baltimore. On August 17, 2011, a second Gino's location opened in Towson, Maryland. Another Gino's opened in Bensalem, Pennsylvania on October 11, 2011.