The first Uno's was established in 1943 by former University of Texas football star Ike Sewell and his friend, former World War II G.I.

[5] In 1988, the Uno Foods division was established and went on to sell frozen and pre-made deep-dish pizza in supermarkets, stadiums, airports, movie theaters, hotel restaurants, and at service plazas[6][7] After Ike Sewell's death in 1990, his widow Florence sold the original properties (Uno, Due, and Su Casa) to the Boston-based corporation.

[17] After bankruptcy, during fiscal 2011, Uno Restaurant Holdings Corp became controlled by Twin Haven Capital Partners.

[19] In May 2017, Uno Restaurant Holdings Corp was sold by Twin Haven Capital Partners to Newport Global Advisors, at the time of the sale having 115 locations, 68 company owned and 47 franchised.

[20] Headquarters state Massachusetts, with 23, had the most Uno's restaurants[21] In 2018, Erik Frederick became CFO, and in 2020 was promoted to CEO.

Additionally, in an interview it was noted that Uno's restaurants tend to adopt a local character rather than a uniform corporate appearance, with a new Winchester, Virginia location sporting George Washington references, and that their goal was to be more of a family room experience than a formal dinin venue[9] Some regions have been more favorable to Uno than others.

While successful in the East Coast and Midwest regions, despite an aggressive push into the Southern and Western markets in the 1990s, those gains were greatly reduced as many locations closed.

Uno's kitchens were updated, adding sauté stations, grills, and fryers, and the company invested heavily in training.

[1][25] In 1996, the franchise's beverage list was expanded, and by 1999 so was the portion size, reflecting a trend seen in the industry where customers are buying fewer but larger drinks.

If you’ve got a ton of recipes, I don’t care how good they are, you’re going to be inconsistent.”[9] As of 2025, discontinued past deep dish pizza varieties include Spinoccoli, Spinach,[27] Shroom[28] and Seafood Delicato[29]