founded 1988 as gratzi s in lexington kentucky headquarters lexington kentucky u.s. key people carl t howard president and ceo products fast casual italian american food including spaghetti and meatballs fettuccine alfredo lasagna ravioli breadsticks pizza submarinos sandwiches and salads . owner sentinel capital partners number of employees 4700 website fazolis.com fazoli s is an italian american fast casual restaurant chain 1 2 based out of lexington kentucky . it was founded in 1988 3 and is now owned by sentinel capital partners.today there are more than 200 fazoli s located nationwide with plans to expand overseas . 4 the restaurant chain specializes in italian cuisine and dishes . 2 carl howard is the company s president and ceo . 5 fazoli s in valdosta georgia contents 1 history 2 corporate overview 3 products 4 catering 5 accolades 5.1 2012 5.2 2013 5.3 2014 5.4 2015 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit in 1988 the concept of the casual italian american dinner fazoil s was set . two years later the fazoli s system was established . fazoli s started with five location in the lexington kentucky area . fazoli s was originally managed by jerrico inc. but later was put up for sale and sold to duskin co. ltd so the jerrico inc. could focus on long john silver s. duskin co. ltd later formed seed restaurant group with the help of entrepreneur kuni toyoda . 6 once kuni toyoda and duskin co. ltd formed seed restaurant group this group began its ownership of the fazoli s system . 7 during the mid 1990s the chain expanded rapidly . by 1992 it had grown to include 35 restaurants within kentucky indiana and florida . this almost doubled in 1993 when fazoli s added 25 more locations . during this time the operations of fazoli s increased from 500 000 per restaurant per year in total volume to 1 million per restaurant per year in total volume within five years . this rapid financial success made the expansion of fazoli s easy and with the start up cost ranging from 150 000 to 500 000 most locations were able to turn a profit within the first year of opening . 8 the company s sole location in southern nevada closed in 2016 after 15 years of operation . 9 corporate overview edit fazoli s restaurants operates in 26 states and has more than 200 restaurants . 3 fazoli s plans to expand overseas to saudi arabia united arab emirates kuwait qatar bahrain and oman . 10 fazoli s made a deal with the world franchise associates that assures them the ability to build locations in those locations . fazoli s also opened its first college campus location at the texas tech university in 2014 . 11 the expansion onto the ttu campus is part of the plan to grow the company via non traditional locations . 12 corporate headquarters are located on palumbo drive in lexington . 3 carl howard has been chief executive office and president since june 2008 . 13 products edit during the early years before the help of kuni toyoda fazoli s main product was pizza . toyoda realized that it was not feasible for fazoli s to compete with the large pizza chains and the menu needed to focus on pasta . with this switch the pasta recipes quickly needed to be upgraded . 6 toyoda spearheaded changes to make the pasta more firm and create larger portions . 7 in the early 2000s low carbohydrate diets became popular decreasing sales and forcing fazoli s to rethink its menu again . in 2004 the company added eight menu items with 8 grams of fat or less and also added items featuring more vegetables and protein . the company later hired elizabeth somer to help with the development of low calorie and healthy dishes . in 2005 fazoli s announced that there would no longer be trans fat in its bread sticks . 8 today fazoli s menu consists of classic italian dishes baked pastas their signature submarinos sandwiches pizza salads desserts and unlimited garlic bread sticks . some of these dishes include 14 twice baked lasagna chicken parmigiano italian deli trio market strawberry and feta turkey mozzarella fresco meatball da vinci the primo italiano cheese or pepperoni pizza new york style cheesecake italian donuts fazoli s also provides specials and family meals that serve up to 4 people . specials include a create your own sampler lunch specials and senior specials . 14 catering edit fazoli s provides catering for any event in participating locations . the catering menu offers group meal deals fresh made pastas oven baked pastas fresh chopped salads box lunches and much more . there is also a full service option that includes table service plates and plastic ware . catering may be ordered online or in store and are available for pick up or delivery in certain locations . 15 accolades edit 2012 edit gold stevie is awarded to fazoli s for best human resources department community excellence award recognized by national hunger relief organization feed the children 16 2013 edit fazoli s named fast casual s brand of the year ceo carl howard named executive of the year by american business awards fazoli s ranked 2 overall among large national fast food chains in zagat fast food survey the university of kentucky institute for workplace innovation awards fazoli s the dr. lee t. todd jr. bridging the gap between workplace research and practice award 16 2014 edit ceo carl howard named 1 on fast casual s movers and shakers list fazoli s listed as 3 on fast casual s top 100 movers and shakers list awarded silver stevie in the 12th annual american business awards company of the year competition 16 2015 edit top 100 fast casual movers and shakers fazoli s named a fast casual mover and shaker fazoli s receives the coex innovation award in marketing service 16 see also edit list of italian restaurants list of fast casual restaurants references edit brandau mark november 26 2013 . fazoli s ceo talks turnaround . nation s restaurant news . retrieved 10 july 2014 . subscription required help . a b oches sam may 18 2013 . from the floor fazoli s to launch new concept . qsr magazine . retrieved 10 july 2014 . a b c company info . . retrieved may 2 2016 . mama mia sbc advertising becomes fazoli s agency of record . sbc advertising press release . october 8 2015 . retrieved 2016 05 02 . truman cheryl may 23 2014 . lexington based fazoli s ceo tops list of restaurant industry movers and shakers . lexington herald leader . retrieved 10 july 2014 . a b history of fazoli s . fast food menu prices . april 26 2014 . retrieved april 29 2016 . a b fazoli s systems inc. history . fundinguniverse . retrieved april 29 2016 . a b fazoli s management inc. company profile information business description history background information on fazoli s management inc. . reference for business . retrieved may 2 2016 . robison jennifer february 17 2016 . fazoli s closes only las vegas restaurant . las vegas review journal . fazoli s franchise same store sales surge ahead of industry . business wire press release . 2014 09 18 . retrieved 2016 05 13 . tagalong eunice september 18 2014 . italian restaurant fazoli s same store sales shoot up . franchise herald . retrieved may 2 2016 . texas tech university to open fazoli s first on campus restaurant . business wire press release . may 20 2014 . retrieved may 2 2016 . carl howard executive profile & biography . businessweek . retrieved 2016 05 13 . a b menu . fazoli s. retrieved 2016 05 02 . catering . fazoli s. retrieved 2016 05 02 . a b c d awards & recognition . fazoli s. retrieved 2016 05 02 . external links edit official website v t e fast food and fast casual restaurant chains in the united states chicken chains coffeehouse chains pizza chains hamburgers a & w back yard big boy burger king carl s jr. checkers rally s cook out fatburger five guys freddy s fuddruckers the habit hardee s in n out jack in the box johnny rockets krystal mcdonald s roy rogers shake shack smashburger sonic steak n shake wayback wendy s whataburger white castle asian l & l hawaiian barbecue manchu wok panda express pei wei asian diner pick up stix sarku baked goods au bon pain auntie anne s bruegger s cinnabon corner bakery cafe dunkin donuts einstein bros. great american cookies honey dew donuts krispy kreme mrs. fields nestl toll house panera bread pretzelmaker pretzel time shipley do nuts tim hortons t.j. cinnamons wetzel s winchell s beverages argo tea biggby coffee caribou coffee bean & tea leaf coffee beanery dunn bros gloria jean s jamba juice juice it up orange julius peet s planet smoothie robeks seattle s best coffee smoothie king starbucks teavana tropical smoothie cafe tully s frozen desserts baskin robbins ben & jerry s braum s bruster s carvel cold stone culver s dairy queen dippin dots fosters freeze friendly s golden spoon graeter s h agen dazs handel s kiwi yogurt maggiemoo s marble slab menchie s pinkberry red mango rita s sweet frog tastee freez tcby tropical sno tutti frutti yogen fr z yogurtland hot dogs hot dog on a stick nathan s famous portillo s wienerschnitzel mexican style tex mex baja fresh cafe rio chipotle del taco el pollo loco freebirds green red burrito moe s pancheros qdoba rubio s taco bell taco bueno taco cabana taco del mar taco john s taco mayo taco time wahoo s fish taco noodles fazoli s noodles & company sandwiches arby s atlanta bread blimpie capriotti s charley s cos cousins d angelo daphne s erbert & gerbert s firehouse subs great wraps jason s jerry s subs jersey mike s jimmy john s lenny s sub mcalister s deli miami subs mr. hero newk s eatery penn station port of subs pdq potbelly quiznos rax runza sandella s schlotzsky s steak escape subway togo s tubby s tudor s biscuit world which wich seafood arthur treacher s captain d s h. salt esquire ivar s long john silver s skippers seafood & chowder house defunct bresler s ice cream brigham s burger chef carrols d lites druther s henry s hamburgers hot n now hot sam pretzels naugles red barn sandy s zantigo retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title fazoli % 27s & oldid 739921860 categories restaurants established in 1988fast casual restaurantsfast food franchisesfast food chains of the united statescompanies based in lexington kentuckyitalian restaurantsprivate equity portfolio companiesregional restaurant chains in the united statesrestaurants in kentuckyhidden categories pages containing links to subscription only contentpages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutsch edit links this page was last 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