Marco's Pizza Soft Launches Fairfax City Store For Delivery, Carryout

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — At 1o a.m. on Thursday, Niten Sabharwal was waiting for the Pepsi truck to arrive with his order of beverages to sell.

More importantly, the co-owner of Fairfax City's first Marco's Pizza restaurant was expecting the health inspector to stop by and give the final clearance so that he could open.

Once that happened, Marco's Pizza would have a soft launch, taking orders from about 12-5 p.m. on Thursday and then 12-8 p.m. on Friday.

"We make fresh dough in store every day," Sabharwal said. "That's one of the things that differentiates us from traditional pizza stores."

Eventually, as Marco's staffs up, it will be open seven days a week at 11 a.m. for delivery and carryout. On Sunday through Thursday, the restaurant closes at 11 p.m., and on Fridays and Saturday, it stays open until midnight.

The restaurant at 10160 Fairfax Blvd., Suite 100, is the second Marco's location Sabharwal and his wife Sonia have opened in Northern Virginia.

Due to the pandemic, Sabharwal was laid off in 2020, after working 20 years as a finance and accounting professional. He took that opportunity to pursue his entrepreneurial dream and launched a Marco's franchise with his wife in Fairfax Station.

Finding success with their initial venture, the Sabharwals looked around for another place where they could open a second restaurant.

"We noticed that there was there wasn't any Marco's in Fairfax City," he said. "In the area, there are a lot of businesses. There are schools. We've partnered very well with local schools, elementary schools doing fundraiser nights for them in Fairfax Station. We plan on continuing to just grow within the community."

Based on their experience operating the Marco's Pizza in Fairfax Station, Sabharwal said he expects to have a staff of about 18 to 20 people, filling both full- and part-time positions.

"Most of the people that like to work part-time may be students or people who work daytime jobs and they just want to work some night-time hours," he said.

The Fairfax City Marco's will have its own delivery drivers, covering about a 2- to 4-mile radius of the Fairfax Boulevard location.

Customers who live outside that area will eventually be able to use a third-party delivery service like DoorDash, UberEATs, or GrubHub to have their pizza delivered to their home. Sabharwal hasn't set up that system yet.

Although Marco's Pizza is a national chain, only a handful of locations have opened in Northern Virginia. It might seem that people would be unfamiliar with what Marco's has to offer.

But, ever since the Fairfax City location put up its sign, Sabharwal has been getting phone calls at the Fairfax Station location asking when the new Marco's was going to open. He sees that as a good sign.

"We're very excited," Sabharwal said. "We feel like we have a good partnership in the community."