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Michael Martella Interview
Captain Tony's Pizza

Leading the way in pizza franchises is Captain Tony’s Pizza and Pasta Emporium.

Headquartered out of DeLand, Florida we spoke with Captain Tony’s President and C.E.O. – Mr. Michael Martella.

Q – Michael is there a real Captain Tony or is that a made-up name? Are you Captain Tony? Where does that name come from?
A – My father’s name is Tony. He was in the Navy years ago, so it just came up Captain Tony.

Q – I see you have a Captain Tony’s Pizza in Rochester, N.Y. but not Syracuse, N.Y. Why is that?
A – We’re strictly franchise driven. So, if someone comes along and wants to open up a place, we don’t have a problem.

Q – Captain Tony’s started in 1972?
A – Yes.

Q – In what city?
A – Rochester.

Q – You’re headquartered in DeLand.
A – Yeah.

Q – When you opened that first restaurant in Rochester – how was business that first day?
A – Oh, man. Business has always been good. Never really had a problem.

Q – I see you have restaurants in New York, Ohio, California, Arizona and England. Why England?
A – Again, we’re franchise driven. People who want to be in their own business, as an entrepreneur, come to us for a unique franchise program which is different. Normally royalties are based on sales. Our royalties have a cap on it which means they never pay us over a certain amount. So, the more business they do, the less they pay us.

Q – You have an office in Bombay, India?
A – No. We don’t have an office in Bombay anymore.

Q – I thought you might be planning to expand to that part of the world.
A – Well, it all depends. We get e-mails from all over the world. We don’t sign everybody up. That’s why we’re small. I’m not in a hurry to have a bunch of franchises. I’d rather have good franchises than not.

Q – What makes Captain Tony’s Pizza so much different from your competition?
A – Well first of all we don’t use any refined sugar. That’s Number One. Number Two, we still make our product on premises. A lot of places, Domino’s, Pizza Hut-----they don’t anymore. So, that makes us right off the get go-----better.

Q – When you say your competitor’s don’t make their product on premises, what are you talking about? They don’t make the sauce on premises? It’s shipped in from maybe a different place maybe?
A – It’s shipped in from a commissary. Some of ‘em use pre-made discs, but nobody makes things fresh on premises like we do. Plus, ours is a bread dough, not a pizza dough. So, it has more flavor. It’s an Italian bread dough recipe.