Rocky Rococo
{{Short description|American pizza restaurant chain}}
{{other uses}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Rocky Rococo Pizza and Pasta
| logo = Rocky Rococo Logo.png
| type = Private
| foundation = Madison, Wisconsin, U.S. ({{start date and age|1974}})
| location_city =
| location_country = United States
| location = Oconomowoc, Wisconsin
| locations = 31 (as of 2025)
| key_people = {{plainlist|
- Thomas R. (Tom) Hester, CEO and owner
- Trey Hester, president and CEO
- Wayne Mosley, founder/franchisee
- Roger Brown, founder/franchisee}}
| area_served =
| industry = Restaurant, delivery
| products = Pizza, pasta, salad
| services =
| revenue = US$ 41,000,000
| operating_income =
| net_income =
| num_employees =
| parent = Rocky Rococo Corporation
| divisions =
| subsid =
| caption =
| homepage = [http://rockyrococo.com rockyrococo.com]
| dissolved =
| footnotes =
}}
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, in 1974 by Wayne Mosley and Roger Brown, who took the name from a character invented in 1969 by the Firesign Theatre.{{Cite web |date=2016-02-08 |title=The man, the legend: Pizza man Rocky Rococo has died |url=https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/rockyrococodies |access-date=2024-04-14 |website=OnMilwaukee |archive-date=2024-01-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240119013022/https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/rockyrococodies |url-status=live }} 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.{{cite web |title=Locations |url=https://rockyrococo.com/locations/ |website=Rocky Rococo |access-date=13 April 2025}}
History
Wayne Mosley and Roger Brown opened their first store in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1974.
The name "Rocky Rococo" 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 for their song "Rocky Raccoon". The Firesign character is described as a dwarf 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.{{cite news |last=Shultz |first=Rob |title=Jim Pederson, the face and personality of Rocky Rococo Pizza for decades, dies |url=http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/jim-pederson-the-face-and-personality-of-rocky-rococo-pizza/article_cda897af-2f3c-51d2-935d-85371fab969a.html |accessdate=November 3, 2017 |work=Wisconsin State Journal |date=February 9, 2016 |archive-date=March 13, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313223135/http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/jim-pederson-the-face-and-personality-of-rocky-rococo-pizza/article_cda897af-2f3c-51d2-935d-85371fab969a.html |url-status=live }}
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. 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.{{cite news |last=Breuer |first=Tom |date=March 2014 |title=Rocky Rococo celebrates 40-year slice of success |url=http://www.ibmadison.com/In-Business-Madison/March-2014/Rocky-Rococo-celebrates-40-year-slice-of-success/index.php?cparticle=2&siarticle=1#artanc |work=In Business Madison |location=Madison, Wisconsin |access-date=February 28, 2018 |archive-date=March 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180301164316/http://www.ibmadison.com/In-Business-Madison/March-2014/Rocky-Rococo-celebrates-40-year-slice-of-success/index.php?cparticle=2&siarticle=1#artanc |url-status=dead }}
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.{{cite news |author= |title=Rocky Rococo pizza co-founder dies at 70 |url=http://www.channel3000.com/news/rocky-rococo-pizza-co-founder-dies-at-70/664156326 |work=WISC-TV Channel3000.com |location=Madison, Wisconsin |date=November 29, 2017 |accessdate=February 28, 2018 |archive-date=January 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180109000732/https://www.channel3000.com/news/rocky-rococo-pizza-co-founder-dies-at-70/664156326 |url-status=dead }} At one time, the chain generated about $40 million in annual sales.{{Cite web |url=http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2007/12/03/story8.html |title=The Business Journal of Milwaukee, 11-30-2007, retrieved 10-08-2009 |access-date=2009-10-09 |archive-date=2008-02-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080229100316/http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2007/12/03/story8.html? |url-status=live }}
Locations
File:Rocky Rococo's Party Pizzeria East - panoramio.jpg]]
As of 2025 there are 31 locations, 30 in Wisconsin and one in Minnesota.{{cite web |title=Locations |url=https://rockyrococo.com/locations/ |website=Rocky Rococo |access-date=13 April 2025}} A Spokane, Washington location closed in 2020 after 35 years of business.{{Cite web|title=Rocky Rococo Pizza closing permanently after 35 years in downtown Spokane {{!}} The Spokesman-Review|url=https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/may/01/rocky-rococo-pizza-closing-permanently-after-35-ye/|access-date=2020-09-30|website=www.spokesman.com|archive-date=2020-06-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608142508/https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/may/01/rocky-rococo-pizza-closing-permanently-after-35-ye/|url-status=live}} The chain previously had locations in Florida,{{cite news |last1=Mills |first1=Gary T. |title=Dining Notes: A look back at 25 years of dining at The Jacksonville Landing |url=https://eu.jacksonville.com/story/entertainment/local/2012/07/05/dining-notes-look-back-at-25-years-of-dining-at-jacksonville-landing/11539696007/ |access-date=13 April 2025 |work=Florida Times-Union}} Iowa,{{cite web |title=Rocky Rococo, 118 South Dubuque Street, 1985 |url=https://history.icpl.org/items/show/856 |website=Digital History Project |publisher=Iowa City Public Library |access-date=13 April 2025}} Colorado, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and Ohio.
See also
References
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