Rancho Santa Margarita-based Pieology Pizzeria bought competitor Carlsbad-based Project Pie. Both are fast-casual, build-your-own pizza chains.
Pieology has 102 locations. Project Pie’s website lists 20 locations, including 11 in the Philippines and others in San Diego County, Michigan, Indiana, and one in the United Kingdom.
“We are thrilled to work with new individuals who share Pieology’s passion for food and building community,” Pieology founder and Chief Executive Carl Chang said in a news release.
A purchase price wasn’t disclosed, though Project Pie until June 2015 had been 40% owned by Vancouver, Wash.-based, publicly traded Papa Murphy’s Holdings Inc., a chain of about 1,500 “take-and-bake” pizza stores. When Papa Murphy’s sold its Project Pie stake last June, it valued the 40% stake at $4.8 million and took a $2.7 million write-down on the transaction.
—Paul Hughes
