John’s Incredible Pizza Co. is in talks to open a restaurant in Westminster Mall as it doubles down on its long-standing family-oriented approach amid the recent popularity of fast-casual restaurants that appeal to food afficianados.
Founder and Chief Executive John Parlet is looking at another location in the Los Angeles County city of Downey, and has signed leases for new locations in Northern California and Las Vegas, with construction set to begin on those two by June, he said.
The company would grow from 10 locations to 14 in about the next 12 months if all four open.
The Westminster site would aim squarely at the company’s core customer: middle-class families.
“Our core customer is mom, dad, and the kids, who come to be fed and entertained in one place,” Parlet said. “There’s always a need for that.”
What these locations won’t do is chase the “fast-casual” trend in restaurants.
“We aren’t changing a whole lot,” Parlet said.
The locations are not smaller or swifter, with “grab-and-go” options.
Parlet said the John’s Incredible Pizza restaurants will continue to take up 50,000 to 60,000 square feet and cost about $8 million each to open. Half the space is themed dining rooms, and the other half is for games and attractions for customers.
“It’s not a hangout,” he said. “You have to be a customer to get to the game room.”
Pizzas are “all-you-can-eat,” not “build-your-own,” and meals include a pasta bar and dessert bar.
Gourmet is in the eye of the beholder: restaurants might offer 18 varieties of pizza on the weekend, but one is likely to be topped with comfort food—macaroni and cheese—with another mainly for the kids: pepperoni and peanut butter.
The chain’s lineup tilts away from the coast, with a presence in Riverside, Fresno and Bakersfield, among other cities.
There is an emphasis on high-traffic locations, such as malls.
The Las Vegas location is not on the Strip; it’s for locals. It is taking the first floor of a former Dillard’s department store in the Boulevard Mall.
It’s an older mall in the area that is currently undergoing a $20 million facelift, Parlet said.
“Las Vegas has everything imaginable for the high-end tourist, but this is for families,” he said, with parents who work in the city and want to be somewhere else the rest of the time. “We think we’re going to do big numbers.”
The new one planned for Northern California is in the city of Newark, north of San Jose. It’s in a mall called NewPark Mall and will take a spot formerly occupied by Target.
The John’s Incredible Pizza formula is working, he said.
Same-store sales are up, he said, with 2014 systemwide sales at about $57 million for the 10 locations: nine in California and one in Portland, Ore.
The company has 31 employees in Rancho Santa Margarita and about 160 more at the Buena Park location, which is close to Knott’s Berry Farm—its lone OC restaurant.
Parlet said the company has 1,600 employees systemwide.
“I don’t want to say we’re impervious, because anyone who sells food to the public competes with everyone else,” Parlet said. “But we’ve carved out a niche.”
