Mazzio's

Mazzio's is an American pizza and Italian-American restaurant chain founded in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1961 by school teacher Ken Selby. The business began as The Pizza Parlor, a small restaurant opened at 3024 East 11th Street in Tulsa. Selby initially operated the restaurant alongside his teaching career, eventually making the restaurant business his full-time occupation. The original location remains associated with the brand and continues to operate as a Mazzio's restaurant. In 1965, Selby opened a second Tulsa restaurant at 15th and Sheridan. The location performed strongly, and the business adopted the Ken's Pizza name, linking the chain to Selby's recipes, including its sauce and thin-crust pizza. By 1975, the Ken's Pizza system had grown to more than 100 company and franchise locations in and around Oklahoma. The Ken's Pizza name continued to exist separately, although the remaining Ken's Pizza restaurants were franchised rather than company-operated according to the brand's historical account. During the late 1970s, Selby developed a broader restaurant format intended to provide more casual-dining space and a larger menu. The concept moved beyond a narrowly focused pizza parlor by introducing thicker pizzas with greater quantities of meats and cheese, sub sandwiches, salad-bar service, and other Italian-American offerings. This format became Mazzio's Pizza. The concept expanded rapidly, reaching more than 150 locations within approximately a decade and eventually operating across multiple states in the central and southeastern United States. Mazzio's restaurants are associated primarily with pizza, but the chain also serves pasta, sandwiches, salads, wings, and other specialty items. Its geographic footprint has included Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, and Illinois. A location in Shreveport was reported as the chain's only Louisiana restaurant before closing in the mid-1990s. The chain's restaurants generally combine counter or casual restaurant service with a menu aimed at families and informal group dining. The company also experimented with adjacent restaurant concepts. In August 2008, Mazzio's Corporation opened Oliveto Italian Bistro in Tulsa, a full-service contemporary casual Italian concept. The experiment illustrated an effort to extend the company's expertise beyond its core pizza format, although the available reference material does not establish the concept's later scale or current operating status. In September 2024, Mazzio's Italian Eatery adopted the name Mazzio's Pizza & Wings. The change emphasized pizza and wings as central parts of the customer proposition while retaining the Mazzio's name. Mazzio's remains an active regional restaurant brand rather than a globally distributed chain, with its historical base and corporate identity centered on Tulsa and the surrounding region.

Mazzio's traces its origins to 1961, when Ken Selby, a school teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, opened a restaurant called The Pizza Parlor at 3024 East 11th Street. Selby managed the business while continuing to teach, effectively running the restaurant after completing his school day. The location became the foundation of a regional pizza business and is still identified as an operating Mazzio's site. The business developed quickly. In 1965, Selby opened a second restaurant at 15th and Sheridan in Tulsa. The success of the second location encouraged him to leave teaching and devote himself to pizza full time. At approximately the same time, the business adopted the Ken's Pizza name. The name reflected Selby's personal association with the operation and became linked to the chain's signature sauce and thin-crust pizza. Both early Tulsa sites remain associated with the modern Mazzio's system. By 1975, more than 100 company and franchise locations had been established in and around Oklahoma. The expansion created a substantial regional chain, but Selby later sought to develop a format that could support a broader menu and a more spacious casual-dining environment. His late-1970s concept included larger dining areas, thicker pizzas with heavier toppings, sub sandwiches, a salad bar, and an expanded selection of Italian-American dishes. That format became Mazzio's Pizza. The Mazzio's concept expanded during the following decade, reaching more than 150 locations within roughly ten years. The brand's growth relied on a combination of company and franchise restaurants, and its footprint spread beyond Oklahoma into neighboring and nearby states. Historical descriptions place Mazzio's restaurants in Kansas, Texas, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, and Illinois. Louisiana was also part of the chain's history for a time: a Shreveport restaurant was described as the sole Louisiana location before closing in the mid-1990s. Ken's Pizza and Mazzio's developed as related but distinct parts of the company's history. The original Ken's Pizza chain remains represented by franchised restaurants, while Mazzio's became the broader casual restaurant concept. Mazzio's menu expanded beyond pizza to include pasta, sandwiches, salads, wings, and specialty items. This broader range helped position the restaurants for family meals and informal group dining rather than limiting them to a traditional takeout-pizza model. The corporation also explored a separate Italian restaurant concept. In August 2008, it opened Oliveto Italian Bistro in Tulsa. Oliveto was described as a contemporary, full-service casual Italian restaurant, representing an attempt to apply the company's Italian-food experience to a more formal service model. The available historical material does not provide enough information to determine the concept's subsequent geographic expansion or current status. In September 2024, the brand changed its public name from Mazzio's Italian Eatery to Mazzio's Pizza & Wings. The rebrand retained the established Mazzio's identity while making pizza and wings more prominent in the name. Mazzio's therefore entered its current phase as an active, regionally concentrated American restaurant chain with roots in Tulsa, a franchise history, and a menu built around pizza and related Italian-American casual dining.

• 2024

  Brand repositions as Mazzio's Pizza & Wings

  [1]Mazzio'sen.wikipedia.org

  Mazzio's Italian Eatery adopts the name Mazzio's Pizza & Wings, highlighting pizza and wings in its consumer-facing identity.

• 2008

  Oliveto Italian Bistro opens

  [1]Mazzio'sen.wikipedia.org

  Mazzio's Corporation opens Oliveto Italian Bistro in Tulsa as a contemporary full-service Italian concept.

• 1988

  Mazzio's reaches more than 150 locations

  [1]Mazzio'sen.wikipedia.org

  Within approximately a decade of the concept's development, the Mazzio's chain grows to more than 150 locations.

• 1978

  Mazzio's Pizza concept develops

  [1]Mazzio'sen.wikipedia.org

  During the late 1970s, Ken Selby develops a larger casual-dining format with thicker pizza, expanded toppings, sub sandwiches, and salad-bar service. The format becomes Mazzio's Pizza.

• 1975

  Ken's Pizza exceeds 100 locations

  [1]Mazzio'sen.wikipedia.org

  The company and franchise system grows to more than 100 locations in and around Oklahoma.

• 1965

  Second location and Ken's Pizza name

  [1]Mazzio'sen.wikipedia.org

  Selby opens a second Tulsa restaurant at 15th and Sheridan and changes the operating name to Ken's Pizza.

• 1961

  The Pizza Parlor opens in Tulsa

  [1]Mazzio'sen.wikipedia.org

  Ken Selby opens The Pizza Parlor at 3024 East 11th Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma, establishing the business that later develops into Mazzio's.

Regional casual Italian-American restaurant chain focused on pizza, wings, family dining, and a broad menu of approachable Italian-American foods.

• Pizza · 1961

  Pizza

  Pizza is the core product category associated with Mazzio's. The brand's historical development moved from an early thin-crust format associated with Ken's Pizza toward the Mazzio's concept of thicker pizzas with more meat and cheese. Pizza remains central to the chain's identity and was further emphasized by the 2024 adoption of the Mazzio's Pizza & Wings name.

• Chicken

  Chicken wings

  Chicken wings are a prominent part of the brand's current identity and are explicitly reflected in the Mazzio's Pizza & Wings name adopted in 2024. The available reference material identifies wings as a principal menu category but does not specify individual flavors, preparation methods, or product launch dates.

• Italian-American entrées

  Pasta

  Pasta forms part of Mazzio's broader Italian-American menu. It supports the chain's casual-dining positioning by providing an alternative to pizza and extending the menu toward familiar Italian-style entrées. Specific recipes and launch dates are not established in the available source material.

• Sandwiches

  Sub sandwiches

  Sub sandwiches were added as part of the expanded Mazzio's format developed in the late 1970s. Their inclusion helped distinguish the concept from a narrowly focused pizza parlor and broadened the range of meals available for casual diners.

• Salads

  Salads

  Salads, including historical salad-bar service, were part of the larger menu introduced with the Mazzio's casual-dining concept. They complemented pizza, sandwiches, and pasta and supported the chain's family-oriented meal format.

• Full-service Italian restaurant concept · 2008

  Oliveto Italian Bistro

  Oliveto Italian Bistro was a separate contemporary, full-service casual Italian concept opened by Mazzio's Corporation in Tulsa in 2008. It represented an extension of the company's Italian-food expertise beyond the core Mazzio's pizza restaurant model. The available sources do not establish whether the concept remains active.

• 2024

  Rebrand to Mazzio's Pizza & WingsStrategy

  Background

  The established Mazzio's Italian Eatery identity was revised to place clearer emphasis on the brand's principal menu categories.

  Action taken

  In September 2024, the brand adopted the name Mazzio's Pizza & Wings.

  Aftermath

  The change retained the Mazzio's name while making pizza and wings more prominent in the public-facing brand identity. No financial or unit-level effects are documented in the available sources.

  Source

• 2008

  Launch of Oliveto Italian BistroProduct launch

  Background

  Mazzio's Corporation sought to extend its restaurant experience beyond its established pizza-chain format.

  Action taken

  The corporation opened Oliveto Italian Bistro in Tulsa as a contemporary, full-service casual Italian restaurant.

  Aftermath

  The available sources do not provide sufficient information about the concept's later expansion, performance, or current status.

  Source

• 1978

  Development of the Mazzio's casual-dining formatStrategy

  Background

  After building the Ken's Pizza chain, Ken Selby pursued a restaurant model with more dining space and a broader Italian-American menu than the original pizza-parlor format.

  Action taken

  The business introduced a concept featuring thicker pizzas, more meat and cheese, sub sandwiches, salad-bar service, and expanded casual-dining space under the Mazzio's Pizza name.

  Aftermath

  The concept expanded rapidly and grew to more than 150 locations within approximately ten years.

  Source

• 2024

  Mazzio's Italian Eatery rebrands as Mazzio's Pizza & Wings[1]Mazzio'sen.wikipedia.org

  Other · Product generation

  In September 2024, the restaurant brand changed its name from Mazzio's Italian Eatery to Mazzio's Pizza & Wings, placing greater emphasis on two of its central menu categories.

• 2008

  Mazzio's Corporation opens Oliveto Italian Bistro[1]Mazzio'sen.wikipedia.org

  Product launch

  In August 2008, Mazzio's Corporation opened Oliveto Italian Bistro in Tulsa as a contemporary, full-service casual Italian restaurant concept separate from the core Mazzio's pizza format.

1. 1Mazzio'sen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Mazzio's official websitemazzios.com