Can anyone give the 411 on Donatos Pizza?

[bcla]

I was at a Red Robin today for dinner and we saw pizza on the kids menu. I didn't quite understand what it was, but it was described as "Donatos". The kid's pizza was just a 7 inch thin cheese and cut square. Frankly really thin which I like. Since my kid likes pizza we just got it. Didn't seem like the typical kids meal pizza which might be frozen. I think it was made on site, although (from research) the dough is made in a central location.

So Red Robin partnered with Donatos to try and enter more markets. Sounds like they were previously owned by McDonald's, but it didn't work out and they sold it back to the original family ownership group. Seems a little bit odd that a burger place would now have pizza, but I guess it's not that unusual with some restaurants like BJ's. All I can find is that the standalone Donatos locations mostly do take out.

I didn't have it, but the kid said it was fine and seems like the kind that I prefer - really thin and a bit crunchy. The square cut was a little different, but it sort of reminded me of a place in Florida (Sir Pizza in Key Biscayne) where I had a thin pizza cut square that was all the way to the edge. That name seems a bit strange because there are so many different place but they don't seem to have the same management or even use the same logo, but they may have some sort of franchise rights?

 

[DisneyHardin]

There are some Donatos pizza places near where I used to live. I ate there a couple times and thought it was good, but wouldn't go out of my way to go and eat it again.

 

[design_mom]

Donatos started in my area (Central Ohio) and is very popular here. It's not my *favorite* pizza, but it's good for a chain restaurant.

Yes, the family ownership sold to McDonalds but then bought it back a few years later. I think the daughter runs the company now. I did not realize that Red Robin sold Donatos pizza now. (I haven't been to our Red Robin in quite a while.)

 

[bcla]

Donatos started in my area (Central Ohio) and is very popular here. It's not my *favorite* pizza, but it's good for a chain restaurant.

Yes, the family ownership sold to McDonalds but then bought it back a few years later. I think the daughter runs the company now. I did not realize that Red Robin sold Donatos pizza now. (I haven't been to our Red Robin in quite a while.)

I got curious (checked online order) and it doesn't look like the Red Robin locations in Ohio have the pizza setup - probably because they would be competing with the standalone Donatos locations. I heard they started off in the Akron area, and the closest Red Robin was in Canton.

I found this message on how they got into this partnership.

https://ww2.donatos.com/how-the-red-robin-and-donatos-partnership-came-together/

This just seems a bit weird though. The boxes, and this story about how their online ordering system had a glitch where a custom topping order would default to no sauce and no cheese. And apparently the workers didn't think twice of it because all they see is what to put on it, and that they're trained that some people order without cheese or sauce because of allergies.

Do Donatos locations normally have a dining room?