About this episode

The episode explores the unique positioning of Fazoli's in the fast food landscape, discussing its history, marketing, and customer experiences.

🍝🥖 Fazoli's: Admitting they Can't Compete with Pizza, the "Breadstick Express," and Dr. Lee Zagna 🥖🍝 This week, Sabrina Carmichael (@brina711) joins me to explore the history of Fazoli's , a restaurant that looked at the pizza wars and wisely decided, "No thanks." Instead of trying to battle the delivery giants head-on, Fazoli's carved out a niche with pasta, breadsticks, and a surprisingly unique place in the fast food landscape. Along the way, we uncover one of the strangest restaurant name changes ever and even though my guest "grew up loving Fazoli's," she'd never actually been..??? 🍝 Originally "Gratzi's" (But the Public Confused it with Wayne Gretzky) 🍕 The Self-Realization that they Can't Compete with the Pizza Giants 🥖 The Legendary Breadstick Express (My New Actual Dream Car) 🩺 Dr. Lee Zagna in Fazoli's Marketing 📈 How Fazoli's Found Success as Fast Food Italian 🍽️ Customers Compare It More to Olive Garden Than McDonald's 🔥 The Heat Lamp: Sabrina's Got Buffet Strategy 💄 Yelp from Strangers: A Customer Gets Called "Old" and Takes Shots at the Cashier's Makeup 💬 COMMENT BELOW: What's your stance on salad at a buffet? 📢 SUPPORT THE SHOW & JOIN THE COMMUNITY…

People in this episode

Host: Michael Ornelas

Guest: Sabrina Carmichael

Topics covered

• fast food
• Italian cuisine
• restaurant history
• marketing strategies
• customer experiences
• pizza competition

Keywords

• Fazoli's
• fast food Italian
• breadsticks
• pizza wars
• restaurant name change
• customer reviews
• buffet strategy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Fazoli's, Olive Garden, Yelp

More episodes of "Fine" Dining

• Raising Cane's: Reviewing the Whole Menu, the Insane Drive-Thru, & No Knives! · July 15, 2026 · 51 min
• Raising Cane's: Named After a Dog, Assumed to Fail, and Post Malone · July 8, 2026 · 40 min
• Smashburger: Good, But Not Smashed Enough!! · July 1, 2026 · 59 min
• Smashburger Comes From Fast Food Royalty · June 24, 2026 · 45 min
• Fazoli's: Mom's Spaghetti, GOATed Breadsticks, and Sh*tting with my Shirt Off · June 17, 2026 · 60 min
• MOOYAH: Eat Here ASAP · June 3, 2026 · 41 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the "Fine" Dining podcast page.