private company corporation industry foodservice fast food founded 1902 in portland maine headquarters portland maine united states key people dominic reali ceo products italian sandwich pizza pasta salad website www.amatos.com amato s sandwich shops inc. is a chain of italian restaurants that serves sandwiches pizza and pasta throughout northern new england united states . founded in 1902 by giovanni amato amato s currently operates 44 stores . recent expansion has been in the form of franchising most notably in irving oil circle k locations in maine and new hampshire and maplefields locations in vermont and northeastern new york . the company also cans its spaghetti and pizza sauces for sale in hannaford supermarkets . headquartered in portland amato s operates over 40 locations . about half of these are located throughout their home state of maine . the chain also has a strong presence in vermont mostly within maplefields convenience stores and there are a handful of other locations within new hampshire and the adirondack region of new york . 1 amato s is best known for its italian sandwich called the real italian which it claims to have invented in 1902 . 2 contents 1 history 2 amato s xpress 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit in 1902 giovanni amato and his wife opened a store on india street in portland maine . according to official literature amato s sandwiches contained ham american cheese and fresh vegetables which the italian immigrants along the waterfront seemed to enjoy . amato named his sandwich the italian in honor of his country and his people not as is widely believed because of its ingredients . 3 in 1972 dominic reali an employee at the original amato s on india street purchased the store from his boss . under reali the company increased from one store to twelve and began franchising . reali also added greek olives sour pickles and his own oil a blend of olive and vegetable oil to the famous real italian . amato s xpress edit in recent years amato s has allowed several franchises to operate under the name amato s xpress . these locations found mostly in irving oil circle k convenience stores sell amato s pizza pasta salads and sandwiches but fewer specialty items . the irving locations also have unique monthly specials while the others do not . 4 amato s franchises in vermont based maplefield s gas stations do not use the amato s xpress name . nearly all amato s stores have dropped the xpress moniker as of 2011 . see also edit portland maine cuisine list of italian restaurants references edit http www.amatos.com maine locations amato s celebrates 100 years of italians associated press in bangor daily news november 29 2002 . mainetoday.com from away maine locations see chelsea holden and fairfield external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title amato % 27s & oldid 740225094 categories restaurants in portland maineitalian restaurantsrestaurants established in 1902hidden categories use mdy dates from april 2012pages using infobox company with unsupported parametersofficial website different in wikidata and wikipedia 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 add links this page was last modified on 19 september 2016 at 20 21 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view