So when the name "Mack" is officially dropped Jan. 1 from a moniker that has been around since 1956 and the place is called simply Manco & Manco, jaws are likely to drop.
The reasons for the impending change, after all these years, are shrouded in mystery, like the secret recipes for the pies.
"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," said Chuck Bangle, who says he co-owns the institution with his wife, Mary, and her parents, Frank and Kay Manco.
He declined to say whether the split was amicable, but took his lawyer's help in writing a brief news release announcing the change.
"We know that when people really start to notice the change, they are going to be worried," Bangle said. "But they shouldn't be, because nothing else is changing and our customers have no need to be concerned."
He insists that the restaurants will be retained by the same ownership and management and that all the recipes and procedures that have gone into turning a brief list of ingredients into a boardwalk food staple aren't going to change.
"We have customers who tell us that the moment they get to town, without even unpacking their bags, the first thing they do is come here for a slice," Bangle said. "And they've been doing it for generations. We would never mess with that recipe. It's like a bond we have with our customers."
After running a successful pizza operation in Trenton, Frank Manco's father, Vincent Manco, came to the resort 55 years ago to open his first boardwalk pizza parlor with his cousin Anthony Mackrone.
Mackrone, who eventually shortened his name and came to be known as "Tony Mack," had already been operating Mack's Pizza on the Wildwood boardwalk for several years when Mack & Manco formed.
