Marco's Pizza, Atlanta

The founder of Marco's Pizza, Pasquale "Pat" Giammarco, began helping out at his family’s pizzeria when he was just a boy. The eatery provided a taste of home to the Giammarco clan, who had moved to the United States from Italy when Pat was nine years old. So together with his father, young Pat learned the secrets behind exceptional pizza sauce: three types of vine-ripened tomatoes and spices that can only be imported from Italy or the moon.

The perfected sauce recipe continues to guide Pat’s kitchen operations—although these days, he has considerably more help, with Marco's Pizza boasting more than 800 locations in the US and beyond.