Ledo Pizza is a pizzeria restaurant chain in the Southeastern United States, with the heaviest concentration in Maryland and Virginia. Their first pizzeria was opened in Adelphi, Maryland, in 1955 on University Boulevard (Maryland Route 193) in Adelphi Shopping Center near the University of Maryland, College Park (). The first franchise was granted to the Fireside Restaurant in Berwyn Heights, Maryland, in 1979. Fireside Restaurant no longer exists. There are now over 80 restaurants in Ledo Pizza's home state of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, West Virginia, Delaware, and Florida.
In 2008, Ledo Pizza was rated #31 on the Pizza Today Top 100 Companies list with 2007 gross sales of $84,000,000 from its 80 restaurants.
Ledo Pizza is rectangular in shape and is known for its very thin crust, sweet sauce, greasiness, thick pepperoni (one per slice; optional), and smoked provolone cheese, often using the tagline "Ledo Pizza is square, because we don't cut corners."
The real reason Ledo pizza is square - the abundance of rectangular pans. Round pizza pans of today were new in the 1950s. When the pizza industry embraced the round pan to cut costs, as the shape gave the illusion of more product when it was actually less, Ledo's stayed true to its roots and it became their trademark. .[1]
While most of its restaurants do not offer delivery options, you can sit down and eat or carry out. When eating at the restaurant, customers are served by a waiter or waitress, rather than receiving the food over the counter. Also, Ledo offers many menu items, such as hamburgers, pasta, its own beer line (Ledo Lager), and more, in addition to specialty pizza types usually offered by pizza chains such as Pizza Hut or Papa John's.
The restaurant chain has been called by several names, including Ledo Pizza and Ledo Pizza and Pasta.
The original location in Adelphi, Maryland, at the Adelphi Shopping Center was established in 1955. The name on its website is "Tommy Marcos' Ledo Restaurant". The original location is not listed in the restaurant finder maintained by The Ledo Pizza System website. The omission from the chain's website may be related to a legal dispute between the Ledo chain and the Marcos family.[2] Ledo Pizza was named among the best pizzas in America on the Oprah Winfrey Show.[3] The same pizza based on the same family recipe is served at TJ Elliots in Bowie, Maryland, along with many of the other signature Italian-American and family dishes. TJ Elliots is owned and operated by Tommy and Jimmy Marcos.
In September 2009, the Marcos family announced that the original Ledo's restaurant would be moving a few miles from its original location to downtown College Park. The original location closed in July 2010, and the new location opened for business on August 27, 2010.
Ledo's is the sponsor of the Mid-Atlantic Skateboard Series. It is the largest amateur skateboard competition on the East Coast. Ledo's is also the official sponsor of the D.C. United men's professional soccer team.