Uno Chicago Grill

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Uno Chicago Grill, formerly known as Pizzeria Uno or more informally as Uno's, is a loosely-franchised pizzeria restaurant chain credited[American Pie], an April/May 2006 article from American Heritage with creating Chicago-style pizza. The first Uno's was established in 1943 by Ike Sewell in the River North neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois[Official website's history and timeline]. Today the corporation is based in Boston, Massachusetts. Ironically, the restaurant chain does not have a major presence in the Chicagoland region.

The company began franchising in 1980[Franchise Zone description] from the Entrepreneur magazine website. As of 2005 the chain has 216 restaurants, with 85 franchises and 128 company-owned restaurants in 32 U.S. states. Three additional franchises are located in Puerto Rico, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates. Entrepreneur magazine ranked it 174th in 2003 and 252nd in 2006 in the magazine's list of the top 500 franchises.

Contents

1 Format changes
2 Thinzettas
3 Website
4 References

Format changes

The original Pizzeria Uno on Ohio Street in downtown Chicago

Starting in 1994[Bigger is Better at Pizzeria Uno], a May 2000 article from Cheers magazine, Uno broadened its menu to encompass other dishes. Uno's kitchens were updated, adding sauté stations, grills and fryers, and invested heavily in training.

In 1996, the franchise's beverage list was expanded, and by 1999 so was the portion size, reflecting a trend seen in the industry where customers are buying fewer but larger drinks. New locations were larger and featured a "Chicago warehouse" look..

In 1997, Pizzeria Uno changed its name to Pizzeria Uno...Chicago Bar & Grill; it later^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]} simplified the name to Uno Chicago Grill.

The menu, updated again in 2005, still includes several of the restaurant's traditional specialties, particularly its deep dish pizza. In the tradition of Chicago's speakeasies, more attention is being paid to the bar. Uno's drink list features a dozen wines and a number of specialty drinks, including frozen, mixed and nonalcoholic options.

The expanded menu and format changes were not made at the company's original downtown Chicago locations (Pizzeria Uno and Pizzeria Due)[Pizzeria Uno Goes Schizophrenic], a December 2005 post to the Chicagoist blog.

Thinzettas

A complaint filed in April 1997 by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleged "unfair or deceptive acts or practices, and the making of false advertisements"[Docket No. C-3730], from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) website. The complaint quoted examples where Uno's Thinzettas were characterized as being low in fat. The FTC's complaint stated:

in most cases respondents' Thinzettas thin crust pizzas are not low in fat. Six out of nine types of Thinzettas thin crust pizzas contained from 14 to 36 grams of fat per serving at the time of dissemination of the advertisements.

The complaint was resolved by a consent order[File No. 962 3150] from the FTC website which required them to stop the practice, and for 20 years maintain records about their advertisements and "materials relied upon" for the claims in their ads; they must also keep "tests, reports, studies, surveys, demonstrations, or other evidence" that "contradict, qualify, or call into question" the representations made in their ads.

Website

[Uno Chicago Grill] — Official Website

References

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