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This article was originally published in QSR on July 24, 2024. Standing with her father under the Donatos Pizza sign, dressed in her pajamas, Jane Grote would talk about growing the family business through the power of love and bringing their values to work with them every day.
Back then, Grote and her family lived behind the original restaurant, which opened in Columbus, Ohio, in 1963. Her mother would open their home to customers, who they got to know as friends—good, hardworking people—electricians, plumbers, construction workers, and their families. As they waited to pick up their edge-to-edge pepperoni pizza, the Donatos specialty, the Grote family’s front porch became the delivery and pickup center for the whole neighborhood.
Grote’s father Jim later coined the term and created “Agape Capitalism,” which rests on the values of leading with love, practicing the Golden Rule, and doing the right thing. He applied this to everything, even the restaurant’s name. The Latin derivative of Donatos means “to give a good thing.”
“At an early age, we learned a lot about hospitality just by inviting people into our own home,” Grote says. “Growing the business was never about an exit strategy, money, or hitting a certain number of stores. His vision was to be around the world, but doing it the right way.”
Donatos would go on to hit a growth spurt, with local markets responding enthusiastically. Grote held numerous positions at the company: training manager, director and vice president of people services, chief people officer, senior vice president of development and franchising, chief operating officer, and president. No matter what, she knew she wanted to hold a position working with the people of Donatos—some of whom have worked for the brand for 50 years.
Anchoring down the company’s principles hasn’t always been easy for Grote. Leading the business and making tough calls became even more of a challenge when potential franchise agreements worth millions were turned away because the culture just wasn’t a good fit.
In 1999, the Grote family was approached with a once-in-a-lifetime offer from McDonald’s. It was impossible to pass up. However, after the sale, disparities between cultures soon became apparent.
The pillars that had held up Donatos for so long shifted underneath Grote’s feet, and she suddenly felt as if she lost her voice. She started presenting herself in meetings differently, working in fear, and feeling like she had to put armor on. She says she wasn’t afraid of losing her job—she was afraid of losing the culture her family had worked so hard to pioneer.
“I woke up and decided I disliked who I was becoming. I needed to do everything in my power to make sure we were living up to our mission and our promises [to customers],” Grote says. “The problem with working in fear is that you lose your clarity and ability to make decisions. I knew I needed to pivot, to figure out a way to bring our values back to life in a difficult situation and have the courage to speak up again.”
McDonald’s planned to sell off or close Donatos, scrapping the jobs of nearly 5,000 employees. In one last push to salvage her voice, Grote spearheaded the campaign to buy back the company in 2003.
After her family separated from McDonald’s, Grote stepped up into the role of executive chairwoman and chief purpose officer, a visionary role designed to implement strategies that fulfill the company’s “soul purpose” of profiting big so they can give back to the community bigger.
After appearing on “Undercover Boss” and meeting store associate Kanisha Dumas, who had lost her brother and was working at Donatos to fund her dream of becoming the first college graduate in her family, Grote strove to do more. She gifted Dumas $50,000 for tuition and created the Promise Family Fund, an internal program providing emergency funding to staff members like Dumas in a crisis. Donatos matches all employee donations to the initiative.
There’s also the Donatos Family Foundation: Love Our Neighbor, which raises money to provide housing, hunger, and health in the markets the chain touches. The Grotes, in partnership with nearly a dozen agencies and nonprofits, reopened a 67,000-square-foot former school building in Columbus to support its most vulnerable residents.
Today, at 466 locations across 29 states and partnerships with Red Robin and REEF Kitchens, Donatos has stayed true to its mission to grow through kindness and empathy. Grote believes the brand has built a solid network of franchise partners who share the same principles as the ones her father set into motion in the 1960s.
Looking back, Grote says her proudest moment was buying back the company and restoring her family’s values. She says it was a true testament to understanding the importance of authenticity and not losing sight of how Donatos could serve its community.
“Twenty-one years ago, I was still pretty young, and I didn’t know I couldn’t do it. I went into [the sale] with all the passion and the grit to buy the company back, and it was a great learning experience,” Grote says. “My dad always taught us about the power of positive thinking… so now, I’m super excited about the growth of our business and I’m continuing to be a lifelong learner.”