Godfather's Pizza

Godfather's Pizza was founded in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1973. Willy Theisen bought out the pizza parlor and the name in 1974 from Gregg Johnson (who later started the Minsky's Pizza restaurants), and sold his first franchise. The chain grew rapidly and was named the fastest growing franchise by the National Restaurant Association in 1977, 1978 and 1979. At the peak of its growth, Godfather's Pizza had close to 1,000 locations nationwide. Theisen sold the company to Pillsbury in 1985 and stepped down from actively managing the company. The company relocated headquarters to Southern California in 1985 before returning to Omaha within a year. In 1986, Pillsbury named Herman Cain CEO and president of the brand. Cain and Ronald B. Gartlan, the company's executive vice president, led a group to purchase the Godfather's brand from Pillsbury, which they did by the beginning of 1990 in a leveraged buyout for what was reported to be $100 million. It was reported to be the fifth largest pizza chain in the United States at the time, down from third place in 1985. About this time, many Godfather's locations in the St. Louis area were bought out by Pantera's Pizza. Under Cain's leadership, Godfather's closed approximately 200 restaurants and eliminated several thousand jobs, and by doing so returned to profitability. Cain stepped down from his position as CEO and president in 1996 and Gartlan became CEO. Cain stayed on as chairman until 2002. In 2009 Gartlan bought out Cain.

Locations

Godfather's operates its standalone stores mostly in its traditional stronghold area of the Midwestern United States, particularly Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota. According to the company's official website in August 2016, the chain had 453 locations in the U.S. Godfather's Pizza also operates express locations inside some Speedway locations, as well as most Minit Mart locations in Kentucky and northern Tennessee, as of 2007. The express program began in 1990 and its success led to the start of a To Go program in 2018, by which licensed retailers sell 7-inch reheated pre-topped frozen pizzas. In 2024, Alta Convenience began selling to-go Godfather's Pizza at 21 of its convenience stores across several states including Colorado, Wyoming and Kansas. As of February 2024, Godfather's had 583 franchised and over 1,600 licensed locations.