Rocky Rococo's

Founded in 1974 by Wayne Mosley and Roger Brown in a location once home to a campus area diner on Gilman Street. That first store was moved a year later to State Street near Lake when an ailing restaurant went out of business. It was the first pizza place in Madison to sell pizza by the slice.

Today there are 45 Rocky's and the tough-talking gangster who serves as the face of Rocky's has become an icon in the area.

Rocky's tried to franchise nationally in the 1980s, but gave up for a more regional approach when the financing just didn't work. The firm eventually sold out to a California company, but Mosley and Brown still retain control of the restaurants in and around Madison.