Mario Russo

Born in Newark & raised in Nutley, N.J. In 1990 I moved to Cary, NC with my Newlywed wife, Joan. I have over 33 years of experience in the Hospitality/Restaurant Industry. When my wife and I moved to Cary, NC we opened a real Deli, Manhattan Gourmet Deli. In 1991, I opened The Original NY Pizza with my brother-in-law. We opened 2 more locations in the next 3 years. 

In 2002, I sold my shares of the companies. In 2003, I ventured into the Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin Robbins Franchise with another brother-in law. We started with our first location in Raleigh, NC, which was a full producing kitchen. A few years later we opened our 2nd location in Cary, N.C. , Our 3rd location was opened in Morrisville, NC. 

In 2014, the decision was made to exit the Dunkin Brands system as a franchisee. Upon selling the company I was asked to stay on with the Franchisee, KPV Ventures, that purchased one of our stores. I worked for that Franchisee for 6 years until they sold the store to another Franchisee.

I joined another local Franchisee in the Raleigh market for approximately 11 months. In 2022, I was recruited by John Levecque/VAAP MGMT, and proudly came on board as a Support and Development Leader.