Local Origin: Cincinnati, OH
Buddy LaRosa agreed to help his mother and aunts sell pizza at their church festival in the summer of 1953. Buddy is of Sicilian heritage, and pizza was familiar in his home. But it was still new to most of his German-American neighbors in Cincinnati. Their pizza was a hit and the wheels in Buddy's head began to turn. In 1954, Buddy cashed in a life insurance policy to rent his first restaurant building and pizza oven.
Beginning with just one location on Boudinot Avenue in the Westwood area of Cincinnati, the family and franchise owners now operate 65 pizzerias, with total annual sales of $185 million.
LaRosa's is very popular in Greater Cincinnati. It has a 25 percent share of the local pizza market and boasts one of the highest sales volumes per pizzeria in the nation.
Ingredients: crushed tomatoes, water, soybean oil, sugar, salt, dehydrated onion, spices, carrot powder, dehydrated parsley, granulated garlic, celery powder