Pieology Pizzeria has cooked up ambitious plans to double in size by year-end and has hired a Yum! Brands Inc. veteran to help it get there.
The Rancho Santa Margarita company has 25 locations in California, Oregon, Colorado and Texas and plans 26 to 33 more in current markets and in three new states—Ohio, Minnesota and Utah.
Average annual sales at each OC Pielogy location are $2.3 million.
Bob Baker
The company named Bob Baker president last month to lead its push. He was most recently president and chief financial officer of Salt Lake City-based Café Rio Mexican Grill, which grew from six locations when he joined the company in 2005 to 70 in 2013.
He has also worked at Yum! Brands and KFC Corp.
Yum! owns Irvine-based Taco Bell Corp.
Carl Chang founded Pieology in 2011. His brother Michael, a former professional tennis player, is an investor in Pieology and a franchisee.
Pieology is a “make-your-own” fast-casual concept on the lines of Chipotle.
Customers move in a line, choosing dough, sauces and toppings for pizzas that cook in minutes and are brought to the table. It wasn’t the first to appear in the segment but has seen strong growth.
The Pieology in the Spectrum was packed on a recent weekday midafternoon.
Pieology also has a location in Fullerton.
It is expected to open at Irvine Marketplace this summer and plans to add stores along OC’s borders this year.
Chang said franchisees are joining up, especially in Texas and in Ohio and Minnesota.
The chain seeks “strategic growth” rather than ramping up franchises and quickly having hundreds of locations.
“For us, committing to a big number like that would be a mistake,” Chang said.
It’s a thoughtful approach reflected in the decor.
On the wall of a Pieology are quotations from the likes of Walt Disney and C.S. Lewis.
“We want customers to be inspired and then go create their own food,” Chang said.
He said his retail development background, plus Baker’s operations experience, has prepped Pieology to grow.
First up: standardizing Pieology practices and systems to support growth, including online employee training for franchisees in other states.
OC Expansion
As Pieology grows, it faces well-heeled competition.
Shopping centers are seeking “hipper, more foodie” options, said Michael Cho, of-counsel attorney with Palmieri, Tyler, Wiener, Wilhelm & Waldron LLP in Irvine who specializes in restaurant development.
“It’s not hand-tossed or Neapolitan, but it’s still a good pie, and pizza has very good margins,” he said.
Three other fast-casual pizza chains are expanding here.
Seattle-based Mod Pizza opened in Irvine in December, and a second location is slated for Laguna Hills.
“We’d love to have six to eight in Orange County,” said cofounder and Chief Executive Scott Svenson.
It has 16 locations in Washington, Oregon and California and plans 19 more by the end of the year. Most will be company-owned.
Mod is backed by $15 million in investor funding.
Blaze
Pasadena-based Blaze Pizza LLC has 22 locations, including 21 franchises. It plans 60 by year-end, five of them company-owned.
Blaze plans seven more locations here to join its first at University of California-Irvine. The others: Mission Viejo, Laguna Niguel, Santa Ana, Newport Beach, Old Towne Orange and two in Brea.
Blaze is backed by cofounder and food veteran Rick Wetzel, who started Wetzel’s Pretzels.
Los Angeles-based PizzaRev plans 12 locations here.
Franchisees Ron Lieberman and sons David and Jason are expected to open their first in August near South Coast Plaza.
PizzaRev has 11 locations—10 company-owned in California and one franchise by Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. in Minnesota—and plans to add three new states and 25 to 28 locations by year-end.
Minneapolis-based BWW holds a minority stake in the company.
Six cities in South Orange County are another area available for development, PizzaRev said.
Pizza Players
Each “Chipotle for pizza” player slices the market differently.
Mod Pizza’s Svenson targets a “modern” customer in its decor with cement, stainless steel, and reclaimed wood, and “a cool, irreverent, slightly rebellious vibe,” he said.
Jim Mizes, Blaze’s president and chief operating officer, said the company wants a “lifestyle brand” for gourmet pizza aficionados: custom recipes and a chewier crust compared to a flatter, thinner product.
PizzaRev’s OC locations target younger customers with a contemporary industrial look and a condiment and hot sauce bar to top cooked pizzas.
“Build-your-own is fun and cool and hip,” said Ron Lieberman. “People like it.”
Pieology targets value customers with enough choices for pizzas but toppings that are not too exotic.
Pizzas at the four chains run 11 to 12 inches and cost around $8, with upgrades like gluten-free crust or vegan cheese.
A cheese pizza at Pieology starts at $6.45, Chang said.
Each chain plans expansion differently.
Mod emphasizes company-owned stores. Pieology is split between company- and franchise-owned sites.
PizzaRev will be about evenly split between franchises and company-owned restaurants through this year and then edge in favor of franchises. And Blaze is a franchise approach: 90% of its 2014 total is slated to be on that model.
