Former neighbor (and MoRA board member) Marc Seelinger, Jr. and wife Cherry have found their way back to the area. This time, as business owners of a new Marco’s Pizza.
A lot of life has happened since their move to Belmont years ago. They welcomed two baby boys—Winston and William—to the family. Marc was elected to City Council and most recently appointed to the office of Mayor. And if that wasn’t enough, the couple also purchased and turned around a struggling store in Gastonia. Under Cherry’s management, that store is thriving, so they decided to open a second location.
Marco’s Pizza, a Slice of the Community
The Seelingers say they looked at the Monroe Road corridor first, along with a few sites in Lower South End. However, their experience with and knowledge of the MoRA community strongly factored into the decision.
“A big part of the Marco’s culture is finding ways to embed the store into the local community (i.e. partnering with schools, churches, community groups, etc),” said Marc.
“Given all the good work that MoRA has done and is doing,” he continued, “we knew that there would be a lot of opportunity.”
Holy Toledo, are those ‘roni cups?!
Marco’s founder Pat Giammarco was only 9-years-old when his family moved from Italy to Michigan. But it was a 1978 roadtrip to Toledo, OH to find a tuxedo for a friend’s wedding that led to the idea for Marco’s Pizza.
“I says, ‘This would be a good place to put a pizza shop,'” Pat recalled in this interview. He had grown up working in his father’s pizzeria in Sulmono, Italy and simply knew his pizza would be beter than others. Pat aimed to do things “the right way.” No cutting corners.
Take the old world pepperoni on the Pepperoni Magnifico, for example. This spicier, thicker cut pepperoni comes in a natural casing that curls into crisp-edged cups when baked (or as now made popular by social media, “roni cups.”) It’s about 3x more expensive than classic pepperoni, but despite the cost, Marco’s “has embraced roni cups since 2008.”
A few other things to note:
- The dough is made fresh and in-house daily.
- The cheese is a secret combination of three types of cheese. Never frozen.
- The sauce is made fresh daily, and it’s the original sauce recipe by Pat.
- Marco’s Pizza has won several national and international awards for its customer service, pizzas, and business and brand strength.
- Marco’s Pizza is the fastest-growing pizza brand in the country.
Menu & Location
Marco’s Pizza is open for carryout and delivery at 10020 Monroe Rd. #140 — near the Galleria Blvd / Monroe Rd intersection. You’ll find them a few doors down from 220’C Banh Mi & Coffee.
The menu offers pizza, pizza bowls (crustless), pizzoli, calzones, subs, salads, CheezyBread, traditional and boneless wings, CinnaSquares, and double chocolate brownies (made with Ghirardelli.)
Cherry says she is still hiring new staff, so please pass that info along to anyone who might be a good fit for her team.
Monroe Road Advocates (MoRA) is grassroots group of volunteers from Monroe Road neighborhoods, businesses, nonprofits, and schools. We’re connecting community in the corridor from Lupie’s/7th Street to NC-51.
