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Lou Malnati's Pizzeria is an American Chicago-style pizza restaurant chain headquartered in
Northbrook, Illinois Northbrook is a suburb of Chicago, located at the northern edge of Cook County, Illinois, United States, on the border of Lake County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 35,222. When incorporated in 1901, the village was known as Shermerv ...
. It was founded by the son of Rudy Malnati, who was instrumental in developing the recipe for Chicago-style pizza, and it has become one of the Chicago area's best-known local lines of pizza restaurants. Lou Malnati's operates a division of its company called Lou Malnati's Presents Tastes of Chicago, a partnership with Portillo's Restaurants and
Eli's Cheesecake Eli's Cheesecake is a cheesecake company based in Chicago. Eli's Original Plain Cheesecake, which has been called "Chicago's most famous dessert", is made of cream cheese, sour cream, eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a butter shortbread cookie crust. S ...
, which ships Chicago-style cuisine nationally.


History

In the 1940s, Lou Malnati began working with his father, Rudy, making deep-dish pizza. In the 1950s, they co-managed Pizzeria Uno. Lou and his wife Jean opened the first Lou Malnati's Pizzeria on March 17, 1971, in
Lincolnwood, Illinois Lincolnwood (formerly Tessville) is a village in Niles Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 13,463. An inner suburb of Chicago, it shares its southern, eastern, and a small section of its we ...
. The Lincolnwood restaurant was successful, and the family subsequently opened another restaurant in
Elk Grove Village, Illinois Elk Grove Village is a village in Cook and DuPage counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 32,812. Located northwest of Chicago along the Golden Corridor, the Village of Elk Grove Village was incorpo ...
. Initially a rocky start, the second restaurant proved profitable, and the company continued to grow. As of April 2016, Lou Malnati's owns and operates 57 restaurants in the Chicago metropolitan area. The company participates in the
Taste of Chicago The Taste of Chicago (also known locally as The Taste) is the world's largest food festival, held for five days in July in Chicago, Illinois in Grant Park. The event is also the largest festival in Chicago. Non-food-related events include liv ...
and has been active in local charities. It has also been a decades-long sponsor of WGN Radio's programming, and its pizza is offered in multiple station contests as a prize. After Lou Malnati died of cancer in 1978, his wife and sons Marc and Rick took over the business. Its main competitors include Pizzeria Uno, Giordano's Pizza and
Gino's East Gino's East is a Chicago-based restaurant chain specializing in Deep Dish pizza. Two cab drivers opened the original location in 1966. History The original Gino's East was opened in 1966 by Sam Levine, Fred Bartoli, and George Loverde. They bough ...
. Lou's half-brother, Rudy Malnati Jr., opened another deep dish chain called Pizano's in 1991, which has five locations as of 2021; the recipe used at Pizano's was developed by Rudy Malnati's wife, Donna Marie. On July 4, 2011, Lou Malnati's opened their biggest pizzeria in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago. In July 2021, Lou Malnati's announced it was moving its headquarters to
Buffalo Grove, Illinois Buffalo Grove, officially the Village of Buffalo Grove, is a village in Lake and Cook County, Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it lies about northwest of Downtown Chicago. As of the 2020 Census, Buffalo Grove has a population of 43,212. It tot ...
.


Expansion beyond Illinois

Lou Malnati's has opened restaurants in three other states: Arizona (7), Indiana (5), and Wisconsin (5). Lou Malnati's began opening restaurants in the Phoenix area on May 12, 2016, with the first location opening at Uptown Plaza in central Phoenix. All locations in Arizona are in the Phoenix area. Indiana has four locations in the Indianapolis area, a fifth location is in
Schererville, Indiana Schererville is a town in St. John Township, Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,646 at the 2020 census It is a suburb of Chicago located just 30 miles south of the city History Long before Indiana became a state ...
, which opened on July 15, 2019 and was the first Indiana opening. A store opened in Greenwood, Indiana on June 6, 2022. Schererville and Greenwood locations are exclusively carryout, delivery, and catering, offering no dine-in services. Wisconsin followed Indiana, with Lou Malnati's opening its first restaurant on December 11, 2019 in the Milwaukee suburb of Fox Point. The locations in Wisconsin are within the Milwaukee area.


Pizza style

Lou Malnati's is a prototypical
Chicago style pizza Chicago-style pizza is pizza prepared according to several different styles developed in Chicago, widely referred to simply as deep dish pizza due to its cooking style. The pan in which it is baked gives the pizza its characteristically high ed ...
, and its deep dish pizza is generally referred to as a "pie". A thin crust of pizza dough is laid in a seasoned deep-dish pizza pan and raised up on the sides. The ingredients are placed on a Chicago style deep-dish pizza in the opposite order of a thin crust pizza, with sausage lining the bottom layer instead of the pizza sauce. The first ingredients are thick slices of mozzarella cheese that are placed directly on the dough. Then, additional ingredients like mushrooms, pepperoni, and onions are spread on top of the cheese. The pizza is topped with a tomato sauce made with whole chunks of tomatoes. A "Lou-Mal" pie uses a "sausage patty", a single patty of Italian sausage below the layer of tomato chunks or sauce, as opposed to the more traditional crumbled sausage. The company has gluten-free pizzas available in small deep dish only; as well as a crust-less version where the dough is replaced with sausage. The total time to bake a deep dish is 30 minutes for carryout orders. If it is scheduled for delivery, it can take up to one hour, 30 minutes to bake it then a 30 minute window to deliver to customers.


Philanthropy

Since 1971, the Malnati family has hosted an annual one-day charity event. Lou and Jean Malnati started the event as a scholarship fund for local athletes to
Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...
in the name of Brian Piccolo, and after Lou died of cancer in 1978, Jean carried on the annual tradition in Lou's name with the focus changing to raising money for cancer research. In 1995, Lou Malnati's opened a restaurant in Chicago's west side neighborhood of Lawndale with the goal being to give all profits back to the community to benefit children's educational and recreational programs. While partnering with the Lawndale Community Church, Lou Malnati's has also created a job-training program for residents of the church's recovery home, Hope House, to get them back in the working world.


See also

* List of pizza chains of the United States * Will Malnati


References


External links

*
Lou Malnati's Tastes of Chicago
{{Pizza chains 1971 establishments in Illinois Italian restaurants in the United States Pizza chains of the United States Restaurants in Chicago Regional restaurant chains in the United States Restaurants established in 1971