Jim Grote
When Jim Grote was a 13-year-old in Columbus, Ohio, he took a job making pizzas. By the time he was a sophomore at Ohio State University, the pizza business had hooked Jim for life. Jim bought that original shop in 1963 for $1,300, and kept the clever original name – a play on a Latin phrase that means “to give a good thing.” It was a perfect way to describe what would become his three-part mission: to create a superior product, hire great people, and promote goodwill in business and the community. Building on his extensive business success, which includes Donatos being purchased by McDonalds then the Grote Family buying the restaurant chain back, Jim’s massive transformative life purpose is to help evolve the American capitalist system to a profitable model based on the power of love and the Golden Rule, which he calls Agape Capitalism.
