[3][4] What was simply a local pizza shop quickly expanded in the Pittsburgh Tri-State region during the 1990s.

This era is remembered for featuring wrestler Kurt Angle[5][6] in a commercial featuring two animated pizza toppings that the chain had been using as mascots at the time wrestling each other on top of a pizza Angle had just ordered.

[citation needed] Instead of withdrawing from these markets to focus on the more successful (and more competitive) Pittsburgh market, Pizza Outlet instead changed the name of their 73 southern locations to Vocelli Pizza in 2002, and adopting an Italian theme in the restaurant in the process.

The transition to a new brand, including a new pizza box design and marketing campaign, cost the company around one million dollars.

[citation needed] Today, Vocelli continues to expand, and is currently ranked as one of the fast-growing pizzerias in the United States.