Today on ‘Staring at the World’ podcast, we sit down with Marc Malnati, to discuss some of our all time favorite pizza, Lou Malnatis and how it all came to be.
Marc Malnati, owner of Lou Malnati’s Pizzerias, graduated from Indiana University in 1977, eight months before his father and founder, Lou, died of cancer. Under Marc’s leadership, Malnati’s experienced tremendous growth, going from two pizzerias to over 60 throughout the Chicagoland area, along with outposts in Arizona, Indiana and Wisconsin.
Marc believes strongly that culture is the most critical part of a business and has built a relational business model which calls for investing time in the pursuit of personal and professional growth. As a result, management turnover at Malnati’s is only 7% in an industry where the norm is 30%. In addition, 2020 was the 11th year in a row that Lou Malnati’s was named one of the top workplaces by The Chicago Tribune and was named a National Top Workplace as well.
Marc received Chicagoan of the Year award from Chicago Magazine in 1996 for his involvement in the opening of a Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria in Chicago’s under-resourced Lawndale neighborhood. He has appeared on many television programs, including The Talk, The Drew Barrymore Show, Steve Harvey, Food Network and defeating Bobby Flay in 2009 on his hit TV show “Throwdown with Bobby Flay” and the “Daily Show with Jon Stewart” for his attention grabbing challenge to Stewart, who criticized Chicago-style deep dish pizza.
Marc and Jeanne, his wife of 40 years, live in Chicago and have three adult children and four grandchildren.
Visit:
http://www.LouMalnatis.com
http://www.BeBOLDbars.com
http://www.BoDeans.com
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