Toledo Free Press is seeking contributors in the following areas:
To apply, contact Editor in Chief Michael S. Miller at mmiller@toledofreepress.com.
Columbia Gas of Ohio’s March natural gas costs will be 53 percent lower than they were in March 2009, according to a news release.
Columbia Gas filed a March Gas Cost Recovery (GCR) of $.44 per 100 cubic feet. In 2009, the cost was $.95 per 100 cubic feet.
According to the release, the average residential bill for Columbia Gas customers in March will be $70.73.
By law, Columbia Gas is required to adjust its cost per month based on market conditions.
Columbia Gas is scheduled to participate in a wholesale gas supply auction in February to obtain supplies for its sales customers for April 2010 through March 2011. If the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approves the auction results, the GCR pricing would be replaced with the Standard Service Offer.
For more information about Columbia Gas visit, www.columbiagasohio.com.
MANSFIELD, Ohio (AP) – Marvin Marshall’s rap sheet is colorful and long, stretching nearly 30 years _ time marked by heavy cocaine use, robberies and thefts and stints in penitentiaries across the state.
But just 10 months out of prison following his last arrest in December 2007, things have changed.
Now he’s clean, works full-time and, as his wife has breast cancer, pays all the bills. He even keeps in touch with his probation officer.
“This is the best I’ve done in 25 years,” Marshall, 49, said.
He hasn’t missed any of his monthly meetings at the county’s re-entry court, a specialized program for recently released felons.
The change was evident when he got picked up for petty theft in December. A clerk at Gabriel Brothers in Ontario accused him of switching labels on an item, trying to save $5.
“Five years ago I would’ve knocked him down, cleaned out the cash drawer and took off running,” Marshall said recently in Richland County Common Pleas Court. “But not today.”
For Judge James Henson, court officers and courtroom spectators – most of the latter convicted felons – bemused laughter broke out. If Marshall was going to commit a crime, he’d be the first to tell you, it would be for more than $5. Yet because he was on probation, that $5 could end up costing him a lot more.
In a different courtroom, in a different age, it could’ve cost him his freedom.
But this was re-entry court. So instead, Henson told him to get it cleared up and report back in a month. Marshall was doing well after 10 months in the program – working, testing clean and toeing the line with his probation meetings. This incident wasn’t enough to draw the hammer.
One of the first of its kind in the country, Richland County Re-entry Court has worked this way for 10 years, processing 1,000 or so felons like Marshall, who’ve served at least six months in state prison.
In the movies, they’re outfitted with a freshly-pressed suit, $100 in cash and a pack of cigarettes.
In real life, they barely get bus fare and emerge clad in a penitentiary jumpsuit.
“I call them the vast unready,” Judge James DeWeese said of re-entry court participants. “They’re uneducated, unskilled, unemployed, unhoused and unused to self-government. It’s surrogate parenting.”
The program can lend help in many forms.
One man had to get his teeth fixed for work, which federal grant money paid for. Others need glasses, food or bus fare. All of them need jobs.
“These people are broken,” program coordinator Toya Bowman said. “We want to up the standards, but not so high that you can’t reach.”
Since re-entry court’s inception in 1999, Bowman has worked with prison officials to select participants based on their proclivity to respond to treatment and the court system. She also oversees their progress.
Re-entry court’s convicts come in many stripes, from murderers to mid-level drug lieutenants, but the toughest cases, like those needing extensive mental health treatment, need not apply.
“I essentially changed the (Ohio Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation),” Bowman said of the program’s early days. “I had to get the wardens on board. There was a lot of politics then, but we changed the whole dynamic. The word ‘re-entry’ had never existed.”
Even critics of the program acknowledge its success. The felony re-arrest rate for graduates of the year-long court – about two-thirds of those who enter – is 4 percent within one year of release. That’s microscopic in a prison system nationwide that averages 44 percent, the U.S. Department of Justice reports.
“We show these numbers to criminal justice experts and professors and they just fall over,” said Dave Leitenberger, the county’s chief probation officer. “It took us 10 years to finally see real funding coming in. For the little bit of money that it costs, it’s a bargain.”
Jeffrey B. Spelman, chairman of the criminal justice and sociology department at Ashland University, is one of those experts. He said the average probation officer may check in with an offender just a couple times a month, but Richland County probation officers, according to his data, are checking in six times more often.
“The contacts are astronomical,” Spelman said. “Having this kind of relationship with an offender allows you to spot problem areas before they even exist.”
The re-entry court employs an idea many experts on deterrence call the wave of the future. The idea is constant attention coupled with swift and consistent consequences. In theory, this is much more effective than old-school probation – which involved limited visits and less consistent but far stricter punishment.
According to one study, by both removing imprisonment as an option for technical probation violations and cutting the length of parole, prison populations nationwide could shrink about 50 percent.
“The first time they mess up, you don’t use the nuclear option,” DeWeese said of his approach, referring to lengthy sentences for technical violations. “That’s why the re-entry court works the way it does, because they believe that you really care about making a difference in their life.”
Having offenders meet as a group helps as well. Each session before Henson or DeWeese lasts a couple of hours, and all of the two dozen-or-so participants must watch every proceeding. In essence, each monitors the progress of his peers. More importantly, they discover their road is not as lonely as they thought.
For observers, it can be like a reality show without the cameras.
At Henson’s session Friday, Jerome Bond, 26, convicted of crack possession in 2006, said he’d mailed $40 to cover court costs two days previously. By Friday, there was still no sign of it, probably, Bond said, because he mailed in cash.
Bowman cocked an eyebrow. “Never paid a bill before, huh?”
She said Bond comes from a good family, but was having trouble getting his act together since he got out from a three-year stint in Lorain.
Randy Schlupp, 40, of Mansfield, was having back problems Friday. He ambled up before Henson with a heavy stoop, and said he was trying to find work, but couldn’t do much manual labor anymore.
“Don’t say, ‘try,”’ Henson scolded.
Schlupp, who was convicted of aggravated robbery in 2006 and released last year, said he’d taken courses to become a chef while in the pen.
“Now that’s what I mean,” Henson said. “You’re doing it.”
Jan. 29 was the re-entry court debut for Donna Kirkpatrick, 26, of Mansfield. An ex-crack addict, she served nearly three years in Marysville on five forgery convictions before getting out this month. Henson told her what he tells all of the rookies.
“There’s been a lot of water under a lot of bridges in a lot of days,” Henson said. “Some people get swept away with it. Don’t let that be you.”
The lonely road The biggest deterrent to getting swept away, officials and the studies say, is simple: employment. Many of the convicts say the easiest way for them to stay out of trouble is 14-hour workdays. Not only is it steady income, it’s also a sense of routine and focus. Jerome Bond, the 26-year-old, refused to get a job after his initial release, Bowman said. Sure enough, not long after that, a drug test came back positive.
“He gives up on himself very easily,” Bowman said.
For Marshall, the man arrested at Gabriel Brothers last month, staying clean and maintaining a manufacturing job for several months has been one of his proudest moments.
“It feels so good to have a piece of paper with my name on it,” he said. “For a lot of those years I was cashing a lot of checks with other people’s names on them.”
He’s clean now, not only to care for his cancer-stricken wife but at the careful prodding of his 24-year-old son, Marvin Marshall Jr., his probation officer and Judge Henson. He still has to pee in a cup regularly and complete several more months of re-entry court, but said that at the moment he is keeping busy.
“Maybe,” he said, hesitating, “I don’t know if it’ll happen, but maybe they will say that this time Marvin broke the cycle.”
Officials report the effectiveness of the Richland County re-entry court is in stark contrast to recidivism rates for prisoners released without such a program.
In a 2006 study, Ashland University professor Jeffrey Spelman found 124 of nearly 600 re-entry court participants, just 4 percent, were arrested for a felony within one year of successful completion of the program. The average recidivism rate nationally for those who did not participate in a re-entry court program was 44 percent in the first year.
The Guild of Artists and Artisans are accepting applicants for the 6th Annual Levis Commons Fine Art Fair through Feb. 15.
The fair features artwork of jewelry, ceramics, painting, photography, glass, wood, leather and other materials.
Artists interested in participating in the local fair can submit their applications at www.juriedartservices.com. All applications will be judged and processed separately.
The Guild of Artists and Artisans is a nonprofit membership organization of professional artists.
The Levis Commons Fine Art Fair is Aug. 21 through Aug. 22.
The Northwest Ohio and Southeastern Michigan Better Business Bureau (BBB) is accepting nominations for the 9th annual Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics.
Nominations for the Torch Awards are open to for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations that meet the BBB’s 20 standards of Charitable Accountability. Nominated companies and organizations must have been in businesses at least three years. A Better Business Bureau accreditation is not required to be nominated.
An independent panel of volunteers will select three recipients based on criteria established by the BBB. Awards will be given to a company with one to 10 employees, a business with 11 to 50 employees, a business with more than 50 employees and a nonprofit organization.
The nomination deadline is March 5. The nomination form is available below and online at www.toledo.bbb.org. Each person who nominates one or more companies will automatically be entered to win two tickets to Cedar Point.
Torch Awards will be presented May 13, during a celebration of the 91st anniversary of the local BBB. Better Business Bureau serves Crawford, Defiance, Erie, Fulton, Hancock, Henry, Huron, Lucas, Ottawa, Paulding, Sandusky, Seneca, Williams, Wood, Wyandot, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
John Chrysochoos is writing about the nation, but his words apply to Toledo with striking resonance:
“We live in an era of obscenely expensive political campaigns, perceived and real political corruption … and biased if not deliberately distorted reporting of information by the media.”
It is not surprising that Chrysochoos’ world view carries a distinctly Toledo flavor; he is a professor emeritus of chemistry at UT. His new book, “In Reason We Trust,” makes the argument that “there is only one effective path left to individuals that may guarantee the protection of their civil liberties and financial well-being; total reliance on reason and objective judgment, rather than blind acceptance of claims based on ideology or leap of faith.”
Chrysochoos deftly tackles such topics as the impact of racism, sexism and religion in politics as he seeks to “provide a non-fictional discussion of political, historical, societal, economic and religious concepts affecting the lives of our citizenry to confront them as effectively as humanly possible utilizing reasoning, unbiased logic and objective judgment.”
The book contains prescient passages that lend it a timeliness more common to newspaper writing than a book written in the fall of 2008.
Chrysochoos on Barack Obama: “[I] wondered why Senator Obama could not wait eight more years to run for president … He would have obviously matured in the next eight years.”
One does not have to be a Rush Limbaugh fan or an Obama critic to recognize how important those eight years of maturation could have been to Obama as he struggles with the uncertain economy, derailed health care reform and a steadily resurgent Republican Party.
Chrysochoos on the economy (remember, this was written well before the current crisis, in the fall of 2008): “Our political leaders appear to be totally oblivious regarding the impending collapse of financial institutions … and oblivious to the threat of collapsing auto industries and airlines.”
Chrysochoos also references “exploding national budget deficits, failing public education particularly in inner-cities, the home mortgage crisis and ballooning health care costs,” the veritable Four Horsemen of the Modern American Apocalypse.
Toledo’s recent political history must have been on Chrysochoos’ mind when he wrote “In Reason We Trust.” Isn’t the following comment the siren call of local talk radio hosts, political bloggers and print columnists?
“With so many ominous signs threatening the lifestyle of many individuals, one would also hope that voters would become more judicious, prudent and demanding before choosing their political leaders … what one gets is what one has paid for.”
Carty Finkbeiner, anyone?
Even Finkbeiner’s replacement, Mike Bell, makes an unintended appearance in Chrysochoos’ book of tea leaves, on the topic of politicians and taxation: “No politician, in his or her right mind, would ever admit during elections that additional taxes may be needed in order for the [community] to meet its financial commitments, obligations and entitlements to the citizens … instead, politicians keep promising to lower taxes and increase benefits — an oxymoron — as if they have been looking into a crystal ball that could predict the future; promises are forgotten quickly after the election is over and the unpleasant reality of economic woes become unmistakably and painfully clear.”
That mirrors Bell’s arc from campaigner to tax collector.
Despite a justified mistrust of media, Chrysochoos points to one information revolution as hope for accountability: “Due to the present access of information and the Internet, as well as the presence and activities of countless bloggers, politicians can no longer afford to engage in outright lies, whether in their favor or against their opponents. By the time they are done uttering such claims, countless bloggers are checking the facts.”
It is interesting, and insightful, that Chrysochoos specifically points to blogs and not traditional print daily media or electronic media as the of-the-moment arbiter of truth.
The most compelling chapter is “Fear Against Reason,” in which Chrysochoos spells out the impact of the use of primal scare tactics in politics.
“Intense fear afflicting a number of people on an individual basis may be quite detrimental in the ability of the individuals to employ reason, logic and common sense … Intense fear afflicting many individuals simultaneously may turn out to be much more destructive.”
That is as subtle an indictment of Toledo’s particular political and media bogeymen as one is going to read in a broader context.
Just because the bogeymen aren’t mentioned by name doesn’t mean they aren’t lurking. That may read more like conjecture than reason, but those close to Toledo politics know the truth.
Michael S. Miller is editor in chief of Toledo Free Press. Contact him at mmiller@toledofreepress.com.
Editor’s Note: The following was submitted in response to the Feb. 7 guest opinion, “Limousines are cheaper than TARTA,” by Waterville Mayor Derek Merrin.
While it may seem the fixed-line transit service provided by the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority costs its suburban member communities a great deal, the truth is what the suburban communities really oppose is the manner in which TARTA is funded.
What most people oppose is paying the property taxes necessary to support public transit.
Property taxes not equitable
It is a recognized fact that property taxes are the least equitable way of financing public transit. Property taxes put the burden squarely on the shoulders of property owners whom are then expected to foot the bill for the majority of state, county, municipal and school taxes.
TARTA’s Board of Trustees, consultants and administration agree property taxes are not equitable, and a change in TARTA’s funding basis must happen — the sooner, the better.
At its last meeting, the board authorized me to contact TARTA’s nine member communities and begin the process of switching TARTA’s funding source from property tax to a transit sales tax.
To make this switch, each member community must pass a resolution by mid-summer in favor of a public vote on changing the tax, admitting Lucas County as a TARTA member and other TARTA bylaw changes concerning becoming and withdrawing from TARTA membership.
A transit sales tax
The advantages of a transit sales tax are well known.
The transit sales tax will be paid by everyone making a purchase within TARTA’s service area, no matter whether that person lives in the service area or in Monroe, Port Clinton or Findlay. A transit sales tax is a far more equitable method of funding public transit.
Further, sales tax in Ohio is not paid on prescriptions or on food for home consumption.
TARTA was founded in 1971 and was the first transit authority formed as a result of new language in the Ohio Revised Code. At that time, property taxes were the only funding mechanism. Later, language in state law allowed sales tax as an option. Today, TARTA is the only system still funded by property taxes, while Ohio’s other major transit authorities have switched to a transit sales tax. We agree.
It’s time to bring TARTA’s funding into the 21st century.
An analysis
A year ago, the results of TARTA’s first ever Comprehensive Operations Analysis (COA) included five long-range objectives. To fund these, the COA recommended TARTA adopt a half-cent transit sales tax.
A few months later, TARTA’s annual report was published and included an analysis of the transit sales tax recommendation, paraphrased in part below.
Toward November’s ballot
TARTA’s board will be the sponsoring agency that will submit the transit sales tax for a vote within TARTA’s service area. This must be done in mid-August for the issue to appear on the November general election ballot.
The first step in this journey of change is to begin the resolution process. Between now and mid-summer, TARTA will actively solicit member communities to pass a resolution to eliminate TARTA’s 2.5 mill property tax and enact a transit sales tax to fund TARTA. With passage by all TARTA members, the issue will go to the November ballot.
An invitation
On behalf of TARTA, I invite the mayors, councilpersons, Lucas County commissioners and township trustees within and contiguous to TARTA’s service area to put away the property tax arguments and, instead, work with TARTA to change its funding and further improve TARTA’s service.
I will be calling the governing bodies in each TARTA community to set a date when TARTA can come and discuss what these changes will mean to each community and how a transit sales tax will reduce residents’ property tax bills.
James Gee is TARTA’s general manager.
Some may think that Valentine’s Day is just another made up holiday on the calendar to get us to spend money on gifts for that special someone. Did you know that St. Valentine’s Day actually dates back to 270 A.D., named after the patron saint of lovers? Love poems would be sent to celebrate and show love for one another. This is probably how Valentine’s Day cards came into play in modern times. We have some great ideas, along with Cupid’s help, to find the perfect gift for that special someone on this holiday that will keep the history of love alive.
Flowers and candy are always a great gift, but we have some great ideas that will help you win the heart of your special someone. Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday this year, so take the day to celebrate your love. If you have kids, plan ahead and find a babysitter. Start the day off with breakfast in bed by serving waffles drizzled with chocolate and fresh strawberries topped with whipped cream and extra toppings. Weather permitting a walk in one of the Metroparks bundled up hand and hand is a great way to connect with one another. To fill the afternoon a movie would be a great idea to warm up and see something romantic.
The movie “Valentine’s Day” out Feb. 12, would be a great romantic comedy to see, or “Dear John” for the true romantic at heart. Another option would be to rent a few romantic classics and spend the afternoon watching them snuggled up on the couch. Some of our favorites are “The Notebook,” “Ghost” and “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” just to give you a few ideas. To end your perfect date, make your Valentine a favorite meal and don’t forget a dessert to die for. While you are doing, the dishes send him or her to take a bath that you have already drawn with bubbles and rose petals. This will be a day that is hard to top.
If spending the full day together is not an option, we still have some great romantic. A book can be a great gift if you put some thought into it. A book of love poems or the history of St. Valentine’s Day is a really romantic idea. Date the book and put your own message on the front page to make it more personal. Buy a nice journal and write your own love poem on the first page that you can both add to throughout the year. Many of the bookstores have a section of books for Valentine’s Day to help you make your purchase.
A visit to the Toledo Museum of Art is a great date that leaves you some money left to stop and have a romantic dinner and a glass of wine. Gift cards to a spa are a great idea, but why not make it a little interesting by booking a spa day in advance. Call and book a spa day including lunch. Tell your special someone you have a surprise but don’t tell them what.
Take them to the spa and surprise them. Ask the salon to include a shampoo/style and make up application so you can end the night with dinner at a romantic restaurant.
Most salons and spas also offer couples massages. This is a great time to unwind and relax together. When you get home from this date, be sure to have chocolate-covered strawberries and champagne to toast your love. If splurging on a spa day is not in the budget, why not do it yourself? Set the mood with some candles and romantic music. Dim the lights and have some massage oil warmed up and ready. Give your mate the best massage they ever had. This is a gift they will be requesting more of in the future.
For anyone who is single, we will put a good word in with Cupid for you. Have a happy Valentine’s Day filled with love and candy.
Ali and Alli are beauty experts at NRGIE Salon & Spa in Rossford, Ohio. To contact them or ask them a fashion or beauty question, write them at letters@toledofreepress.com.
The three most terrifying words we as consumers can hear are “diversifying our brand.”
I’m talking about the trend of many stores and businesses nowadays to add new and “exciting” facets to their already existing services. Some of these additions fit well and feel natural. Some feel as awkward as conversing with your kids after they have stumbled upon your porn collection.
Now, many stores have carried items that don’t fit in with the main focus of their product line for years, mainly in the area of convenient, “impulse” buys. You stopped in for one thing, so why don’t you grab this other thing you need and avoid two stops? Go to the gas station, there are some food items. Go to the grocery store, there are some magazines. Go to a bookstore, there is coffee. Go to Starbucks, there are CDs. Go to an independent music store, there are some cheap, poorly-drawn comic books. You see how it works.
But some stores have stretched the definition of the “impulse buy” to beyond the breaking point. Last Sunday, I, like most Americans, watched the Super Bowl, and I, like most Americans, needed munchies for the event. So before kickoff, I stopped by the Kroger on Jackman at Laskey — like most Americans, it seemed, as the store was jammed to the gills. While I was waiting in line at the “express” self-checkout, I noticed that behind me, there was…a furniture section.
Now, I’ve seen Kroger carry some…uh…interesting items before. Several branches offer a full selection of kitchen appliances and utensils, but it works, since it still fits the food motif. During the holidays they offered deals on items like a new DVD player, and if it’d had the name of a manufacturer I’d ever even heard of before, I might have considered it. But this was not a single item offered during a certain time of year. No, this was a full on SECTION with a selection to make Banner take notice. Dining sets, chairs, even recliners were all available.
I have tried to wrap my brain around this idea in the past few days, and I’m drawing a blank. What kind of consumer is this section appealing to? Is it supposed to be an impulse buy? Who goes into a grocery store for their weekly food run and says, “Hey, honey, while we’re here let’s grab that $300 suede recliner, it’ll really tie the living room together?” Do they expect customers to PLAN on stopping at Kroger for all their furniture needs from now on?
And the head-scratchers didn’t end there. A few aisles away from all the furniture, there was another surprise in store — Kroger’s expansive and ample toy section.
When I was a kid, the “toys” available at my local grocery store were laughable, with the bare minimum of products needed to be called a “section” at all, and every one of them ridiculously cheap. But this offered the kind of selection that used to be exclusive at Toys ‘R Us, with numerous (and big-ticket) items to be seen. And unlike the sad selection of my youth, this place covered several aisles, taking up far more store space than most of the sections devoted to food items. Cuz, you know, I was in a GROCERY STORE, after all.
Kroger is far from the only sinner in this area, with many others offering ridiculous examples of “extending their selection” (Blockbuster Video offering an extensive book section, for example). And diversifying CAN work. Video Spectrum in Bowling Green started selling Smoothies a few years back, and it actually succeeded because a.) They were darn good Smoothies, b.) They named it “Smoovies,” so it still kinda/sorta fit into their motif, and c.) Video Spectrum is the greatest video store ever, so I’d put up with anything that brought them more profit and kept them open.
But more often than not, these additional elements serve as distractions at best, and at worst, may keep consumers from seeking out excellent merchants that actually deal in these items. Why even bother to buy a chair or board game from Kroger when much better selections (at much better prices) are offered elsewhere? Sure, it’s convenient, but it takes away business from places that actually bother to be really good at one thing, rather than being simply adequate at everything.
It’s up to us, as the customer, to encourage or discourage trends with the most effective vote of all — the money in our pocket. Don’t succumb to laziness at the expense of quality. And let’s stop encouraging merchants to “diversify” before it gets really out of hand. If I walk into JC’s Comic Stop and see feminine hygiene products, stop the planet, I wanna get off.
E-mail Jeff at PopGoesJeff@gmail.com.
Marco’s Pizza launched a new distribution service with the opening of its first distribution center in Maumee as the local company continues to expand rapidly on a national level.
Marco’s Pizza Distribution LLC opened the distribution center on Holland Road in Maumee to serve nearly 150 locations in the Midwest Region, including stores in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.
“Marco’s Pizza Distribution represents the next phase of growth for us with 900 new stores signed and in development,” said Jack Butorac, president and CEO of Marco’s Franchising LLC, based on Monroe Street in Toledo.
That expansion includes 150 stores in California. Overall, 60 new units will be built nationally in 2010 not just in California. Marco’s will open stores for the first time in Kentucky and Louisiana in 2010, according to the company. Marco’s currently has stores located from Colorado to Florida including the first one in the Bahamas.
The distribution company remodeled an existing 40,000 square-foot warehouse facility for storing more than 100 food and nonfood products used in Marco’s Pizza stores.
It includes a cooler and freezer for cheeses, meats and perishable foods, as well as storage of “smallwares,” such as napkins, pizza boxes and cutters, small equipment, supplies and uniforms.
“We call it the ‘Mother Ship’ because it’s a one-stop shop for everything needed to open and operate a Marco’s Pizza store,” said Don Vlcek, vice president of purchasing for Marco’s Franchising and president of Marco’s Pizza Distribution (MPD).
The distribution center includes six truck docks and one drive-through door for loading and unloading a fleet of trucks leased from and managed onsite by Ryder. The center currently has 16 employees.
“It was designed for efficiency and streamlined operations to save labor and time on loading and unloading trucks,” Vlcek said.
The center also has two doors for unloading from railcars at the back of the facility. Marco’s pizza sauce is shipped by rail from California where the tomatoes are grown, he said.
“The distribution center and service will be another asset to franchises as Marco’s growth continues,” said Butorac, who has 35 years of experience turning local restaurant concepts into national chains, according to his company biography.
“It’s crucial for Marco’s to maintain product quality and consistency in every store as the company expands. MPD will help us accomplish this cost-effectively and provide rebates to participating franchisees at the end of the year,” Butorac said.
With its current expansion, Marco’s Pizza is the fastest growing pizza chain in the U.S., according to the company. Marco’s is ranked one of the 25 largest pizza chains in the country by Pizza Magazine.
Most of the 200 stores are franchise-owned, with about 30 corporate-managed stores, including some in the Toledo area.
Some of the franchises are owned by owners of the company, Vlcek said.
Marco’s Pizza is based in Toledo where it was founded in 1978 by Pasquale “Pat” Giammarco. The pizza chain has grown from its Toledo roots to 200 stores in 17 states and the Bahamas.
Butorac started working as a consultant for the company’s founder, Giammarco, and purchased the franchise rights for Marco’s Pizza in 2004. He assumed his current role as president and CEO that same year.
Butorac created a “lean corporate infrastructure targeted toward aggressive growth and recruiting a select team of seasoned executives” from Domino’s, Little Caesars Pizza and other food franchise organizations.
Giammarco still owns and operates most of the Marco’s Pizza stores in Toledo. He moved to the U.S. from Italy when he was 9 years old and grew up working in his family’s pizzeria. He later embarked on a mission to make high-quality pizza on a larger scale when he established Marco’s Pizza, according to the company’s Web site.
“He is involved in the product improvement and quality process to protect the integrity of our products,” Vlcek said.
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