Buddy LaRosa was an entrepreneur before it was cool to be one. He founded his restaurant company, LaRosa's Inc., on Cincinnati's west side in 1954 with one store. It's now a $130 million company with 60 pizzerias serving neighborhoods throughout Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, Southeastern Indiana and Dayton, Ohio.
Now, after 54 years in the business, Buddy LaRosa has completed the transition of the business to his son, Michael LaRosa, who will become chief executive officer, and to 45-year LaRosa's veteran TD Hughes, who will become chairman. Buddy will assume the role of chairman emeritus. The changes are the final steps of a succession plan that began when he appointed Hughes, a non-family member, as CEO of the family-owned company in 1986. "I'd worked closely with TD for years, so I trusted him to lead the organization and prepare the next generation to manage it," LaRosa says.
The past 20 years under Hughes included major expansion and the development of LaRosa's "One Number" phone center, an innovative plan that has been copied by other major pizza makers. More innovation is expected from the next generation. "We want to be the best in the world at making it easy for our guests to get great food when, how and where they want it," says Michael LaRosa.
Writer: David Holthaus
Source: Pete Buscani, LaRosa's Inc.
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