1959 when the owners Joe Campanella, Louis O charley’s california chicken salad, and Alan Ameche invited Colts’ captain Gino Marchetti to become a partner. In 1967 Gino’s merged with Tops Drive Inn, a chain of 18 drive-in restaurants located in the Washington, D. Gino’s also expanded in to Massachusetts and Connecticut.
There it had difficulties because Gino Marchetti was a relative unknown in the region. Additionally, people confused them with the Papa Gino’s pizza chain that was based in Massachusetts. These locations were eventually closed and many now house other chains, especially Burger King. Gino’s also converted some to fish restaurants, but these too failed. Another notable facet of Gino’s was fried chicken. In the mid-Atlantic area, it was the franchisee of KFC which was cobranded with Gino’s hamburgers. In New England, another company was the KFC franchisee.