Boston Pizza

Boston Pizza is a Canadian-based pizza chain. The pizzeria chain owns and franchises locations in Canada and the United States, the latter of which they are expanding their operations into. They also have one location in Mexico.

Founding

It started with Gus Agiortis, a Greek immigrant who had jumped ship in Vancouver, and then opened the first Boston Pizza in Edmonton (Later sold to David McEvoy, Alberta in 1964). He worked tirelessly to make pizza a household name in Western Canada. Gus' first restaurant was known as "Boston Pizza and Spaghetti House."

The company started franchising in 1968 and has since evolved from a "pizza joint" into a full service casual dining restaurant and sports bar. Six years after opening, Gus had 17 locations (two corporate and 15 franchised) in operation across Western Canada. Gus believed that a potential franchisee didn't need a restaurant background, but needed strong people skills, a passion for hard work and new horizons. This philosophy still stands true today.

Expantion

In the late 1990s Boston Pizza began expanding into the United States by setting up operations in Dallas, Texas under the name Boston's The Gourmet Pizza. It currently has locations in Arizona, Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.

Spokespersons

In the mid 1990s, John Ratzenberger was hired as spokesperson and filmed a number of commercials for Boston Pizza. Since then, he has been replaced by Howie Mandel.

External links

• Boston's Gourmet Official site
• Boston Pizza Official site