Mark’s Pizzeria has 28 restaurants across New York’s Greater Rochester area, but only one has a bar, thanks to Brian and Lisa Christiaansen’s willingness to test the 42-year-old chain’s boundaries—and the founder’s faith in his franchisees.
Not surprisingly, COVID-19 got in the way for a while, but Tapped on Main at Mark’s Pizzeria quickly rebounded and has distinguished itself from other pizza competitors in Medina. Most recently, it received the Phoenix Award from the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce.
Like many of the chain’s franchise owners, Brian started working at Mark’s Pizzeria, under the mentorship of founder Mark Crane, when he was just 16. He was promoted to manager in 1992 and quickly became a franchisee, opening his first store in Hamblin. He went on to open locations in Bushnell and Brockport, then added others in Medina, Albion and Newfane.
But what he and his wife really wanted was a pizzeria with dine-in seating and a hopping bar scene. The restaurant had occupied the same building for 22 years, but the Christiaansens wanted to “do something different” with the space, Christiaansen told The Daily News Online at the time. “We were looking at moving locations to go somewhere else, but decided, with the resurgence of downtown Medina, we wanted to stay down here.”
Crane gave them the OK to open Tapped on Main in December 2019. The Christiannsens were then forced to close the fledgling bar when the pandemic hit just a few months later. “When we could finally open [again] in 2021, we started to hit our stride,” Brian recently told OrleansHub.com.
They went on to add a party and game room for private events and sports teams. They’ll host a Halloween Paint & Sip party on October 17 and threw an Open Mic Night, complete with guitars, amps, backing tracks and a karaoke machine, on September 14 for guests looking to test their vocal skills.
The Christiansens take pride in their young front-of-house team’s personal chemistry and ability to create a fun, engaging experience for customers at Tapped on Main. “Their unique personalities make them truly one of a kind,” a July 30 Instagram post noted. “From the sibling-type banter to the comical conversations, each member brings something special to to Tapped on Main.”
“It’s great to get acknowledged for the work we’ve done,” Brian said, after learning Tapped on Main will receive the Phoenix Award in a ceremony later this month. “We take pride in our building and our bar business and it’s nice to be recognized for it.”
Crane opened the first Mark’s Pizzeria in Palmyra, New York, in 1982. He reportedly served just one customer that day, with an order that totaled $3.26. “That was the only pizza I made the whole day,” Crane told the Rochester Business Journal in February 2012. “I had a Dodge Duster and was driving home. I said to myself, ‘What am I doing?’ Then it sunk in that I had to figure something out.”
Over time, Crane began tapping into his existing employee base to expand the business.
“This company has grown from within,” Crane said in 2012. “As guys come into the company—they could’ve started when they were 15 years old [or] they could’ve started when they were 40—they decide how far they want to move up. When they decide they want to be part of the company and they want to be vested, they buy in and end up getting the store. It’s not like you can call me up and say, ‘Hey, I want to buy a store.’ It don’t work like that.”
