Salt water taffy, beach tags, boardwalk fries and Mack & Manco Pizza. They’re all items synonymous with summers at the Jersey Shore, but one is about to change.
The famous pizza joint, opened by Trenton’s Vincent Manco and Anthony Mack on the Boardwalk in Ocean City back in 1956, is losing one of its namesakes. According to the shop’s website (which is now 80 percent complete) and based on the way they now answer the phone, it’s about to be known as “Manco & Manco Pizza.”
The name change will reportedly take effect at all of their locations beginning Jan. 1.
“Mack and Manco’s is now Manco & Manco Pizza!” reads the website. “Mack and Manco’s menu may have changed over the years, but one thing has never changed at Manco & Manco’s -- their dedication to providing their customers with the freshest, hottest, crispiest and tastiest pizza possible. An Ocean City tradition you can always count on.”
They started new social media accounts back on Nov. 7, though neither the Facebook nor Twitter feeds have been active since then.
The Mack family, which owns pizza joints in Wildwood ended their 55-year partnership with the Manco family in June.
"It's just two separate entities that decided among themselves that one would take back their name and we would all go our separate ways. There's nothing else to say about it," co-owner Chuck Bangle told the Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday.
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"There's no animosity, it was a mutual and amicable decision," Bangle told NBC Philadelphia.
One of the owners of Mack's didn't go on camera but would say that it was just time for the families to go their separate ways.
And anyone worried that the pizza could lose its famous taste shouldn't fret.
"The product will be the same and I guarantee you everything will be the consistently the same as it's always been for the last 55 years," Manco & Manco manager Tony Polcini said.
