Lou Malnati's Pizzeria is an American Chicago-style pizza restaurant chain headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois. It was founded by the son of Rudy Malnati, who was instrumental in developing the recipe for Chicago-style pizza, and it has become one of the Chicago area's best-known local lines of pizza restaurants. Lou Malnati's operates a division of its company called Lou Malnati's Presents Tastes of Chicago, a partnership with Portillo's Restaurants and Eli's Cheesecake, which ships Chicago-style cuisine nationally.HistoryLou Malnati began working with his father Rudy in the 1940s making deep-dish pizza. In the 1950s they co-managed Pizzeria Uno. Lou and his wife Jean opened the first Lou Malnati's Pizzeria on March 17, 1971, in Lincolnwood, Illinois.The Lincolnwood restaurant was successful, and the family subsequently opened another restaurant in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. After an initial rocky start, the second restaurant proved profitable and the company continued to grow. As of April 2016, Lou Malnati's owns and operates 45 restaurants in the Chicago metropolitan area. The company participates in the Taste of Chicago and has been active in local charities.On July 4, 2011 Lou Malnati's opened their biggest pizzeria in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago.After Lou Malnati died of cancer in 1978, his wife and sons Marc and Rick took over the business. Its main competitors include Pizzeria Uno, Giordano's Pizza and Gino's East.
