Cassano's Pizza King, currently operating under the brand Cassano's, is a pizzeria chain based in Suburban Dayton, Ohio Established on June 4, 1953, by the grocer Victor "Vic" J. Cassano, Sr. (June 4, 1922 – January 1, 2002) and his mother-in-law Caroline "Mom" Donisi, the company currently (2005) operates 34 Cassano's Pizza King restaurants in the Dayton area, and has three other western Ohio franchises (in Russells Point, Fairfield and Sidney), plus a franchise in Quincy, Illinois, and another in Hannibal, Missouri. The company also operates dozens of Cassano's Pizza Express kiosks in gas stations, convenience stores and hotels, and sells frozen pizza dough under the name Cassano's Fresh Frozen Dough Company. From the mid-1980s to 1997, the chain operated under the name Cassano's Pizza and Subs, and this branding is still present (as of 2007) on signage and menus at some locations. In the mid-1970s, Cassano's was ranked by the National Restaurant Association as one of the top four pizza chains in the United States. In 2016, Cassano's Pizza King, Ohio Historical Marker, was designated by the Ohio History Connection at Kettering, Ohio. Fare Cassano's traditional pizza, "Dayton Style Pizza" a variation of "St. Louis-style pizza", is characterized by its unusually salty, crispy, distinctively flavored thin crust, and is typically cut into small rectangular pieces rather than wedges (party cut instead of pie cut). This style of pizza is also characteristic of Cassano's local rival, Marion's Piazza, also based in Dayton which is adjacent to Cassano's base. {Imo's Pizza (originated in 1964) is supposedly the original St. Louis pizza but Cassano's was selling Dayton area pizza in the 1950s & possibly before. Maybe St, Louis style is a copy of Cassano's?)] Expansion and downsizing Cassano's franchises have also previously operated in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia, Michigan, and other U.S. states. The chain had grown to over 100 locations when it was sold to Vic Cassano, Jr. (March 19, 1945 – May 28, 2010), who subsequently sold the company to Greyhound Food Management, Inc. (a subsidiary of Greyhound) in 1986. At the time, the chain had 48 locations, but Greyhound planned a massive expansion, with 100 to 150 new restaurants planned each year in order to compete with Domino's Pizza. Over an 18-month period, Greyhound briefly opened 33 delivery-only restaurants, using Columbus, Ohio, as a test market. However, the more-expensive Cassano's pizza, which competed well against dine-in restaurants, was