Rocky Rococo Pizza and Pasta is a chain of North American restaurants that specializes in pan-style pizza sold by the slice. It was founded in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

, in 1974 by Wayne Mosley and Roger Brown, who took the name from a character invented in 1969 by the Firesign Theatre. The chain grew as large as 120 stores in 1986, and the owners sold the franchise rights to another partner and group of investors in 1988. As of 2025 there are 31 locations, 30 in Wisconsin and one in Minnesota.

History

Wayne Mosley and Roger Brown opened their first store in

, in 1974. The name "Rocky

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

" was invented in 1969 by the Firesign Theatre for a villain in the "Further Adventures of Nick Danger" sketch on their second comedy album, '' How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All''. The character was based on Dashiell Hammett's Joel Cairo as portrayed by Peter Lorre in the 1941 film '' The Maltese Falcon''. The name is a parody of a character invented by

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

for their song " Rocky Raccoon". The Firesign character is described as a

dwarf Dwarf, dwarfs or dwarves may refer to: Common uses *Dwarf (folklore), a supernatural being from Germanic folklore * Dwarf, a human or animal with dwarfism Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a sh ...

and depicted as bald and wearing a fez. To design their restaurant's logo, Mosley and Brown hired a Madison artist to sketch a character based on the White Spy character from '' Mad Magazine'', and hired comic actor Jim Pederson to portray their "Rocky Rococo" mascot as a moustachioed Italian wearing a white suit, wide-brimmed hat, and sunglasses.

Copyright dispute

The Firesign Theatre visited the first Rocky Rococo Pizza when on tour in Madison in 1975, and reacted with good humor, joking around with the owners and giving them pictures that said, "To Rocky, from Rocky" which were hung on the wall. But in 1985, when the chain had grown to 62 restaurants, the Firesign Theatre sent the owners a letter claiming ownership of the name. Their lawyers found a similar case where an Austin, Texas, pizzeria named Conan's ran afoul of the copyright owners, producers of the 1982 film ''

Conan the Barbarian Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero created by American author Robert E. Howard (1906–1936) and who debuted in 1932 and went on to appear in a series of fantasy stories published in ''We ...

''. Since the creator of the ''Conan the Barbarian'' comic had similarly endorsed the restaurant by drawing Conan on its walls, the suit lost in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The Firesigns thus settled out of court. By 1986, the chain had grown to 120 stores, according to the company. Mosley and Brown sold the franchise rights to Tom Hester and a group of investors in 1988. Mosley died at his home in Madison on November 28, 2017, aged 70. At one time, the chain generated about $40 million in annual sales.

Locations

As of 2025 there are 31 locations, 30 in Wisconsin and one in Minnesota. A Spokane, Washington location closed in 2020 after 35 years of business. The chain previously had locations in

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, and

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References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.rockyrococo.com Pizza chains of the United States Companies based in Wisconsin Economy of Madison, Wisconsin Regional restaurant chains in the United States 1974 establishments in Wisconsin Restaurants established in 1974

History

Copyright dispute

Locations

See also

References

External links