The Original John's Pizzeria | Our Story
Sicilian roots, Region tradition since 1943
In 1943, Phil Bacino opened a pizzeria in Calumet City and named it after his son John. The Bacino family has carried that same scratch-made tradition forward ever since.
A Sicilian immigrant's lasting legacy
Phil came from Sicily, settled in the Chicagoland area, and built John's on homemade southern Italian food. The kind of loyal, multigenerational business he earned has lasted to this day.
Making it from scratch
Phil's rule was simple: if you can make it homemade, you do. The dough, sauce, and sausage have been made in-house from day one — and the marinara got so beloved the family started bottling it.
The sausage is the whole idea
John's signature sausage is made from the Bacino family recipe, cooked and ground so it spreads across the entire pizza — not piled in chunks, but blanketing every bite. As longtime customer Laurie Goddard put it: "The sausage is the whole idea."
What the Region kept asking for
For years, customers kept asking when John's would come to their neighborhood. That multigenerational loyalty is what brought the Bacino family to Munster, one pie at a time.