A Marco's Pizza restaurant plans to open its second location in Aiken County by mid-June, according to owner Woody Johnson.
The nearest Marco's Pizza is about 20 miles away on West Martintown Road in North Augusta, but the new Marco's, located within city limits, will sit on the property of the former car wash on Silver Bluff Road. The roughly 2,200-square-foot restaurant will have a circular driveway, allowing residents to pick up pizza and other menu items through the drive-thru.
Johnson said he plans to hire the restaurant's 25 to 30 employees from around the Aiken area.
"This can range from shift leaders, drivers, possibly at that store 10 drivers, inside people working and people who handle the phones," Johnson said.
Founded by native Italian Pasquale "Pat" Giammarco, the first Marco's served its slices in Toledo, Ohio, in 1978, according to Marco's Pizza website. Years later, the pizza restaurant had opened throughout the Midwest, and now operates in more than 30 states, including North Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin, South Dakota and even in the Bahamas, India and Puerto Rico.
The restaurant's menu includes pizza, subs, wings, salad, cheesy bread and cinnamon square pastries.
Johnson, who owns the North Augusta location and others in Georgia, said the restaurant will operate on similar hours of the North Augusta store - 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. The restaurant will also offer delivery service; however Johnson said drivers will just deliver "over to Whiskey Road, just reaching the downtown area" and "down Hitchcock Parkway."
For more information about Marco's Pizza, visit www.marcos.com.
Maayan Schechter is the local government reporter with Aiken Standard. Follow her on Twitter @MaayanSchechter.