Blaze Pizza

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Blaze Pizza
Private
Industry Food and beverage
Genre Fast-casual dining restaurants
Founded 2011
Founder Elise and Rick Wetzel
Headquarters Pasadena, California, United States
Number of locations
 133[citation needed]
Area served
 United States, Canada
Key people
Products Pizza
Slogan "Intelligent Choices for Our Pizzas, People & Planet" & "Fast-Fire'd"
Website www.blazepizza.com

Blaze Pizza LLC is a Pasadena, California-based chain within the fast-casual dining restaurants category. Founded in 2011 by Elise and Rick Wetzel of Wetzel’s Pretzels, Blaze Pizza was modeled after the Chipotle concept as a made-to-order approach to serving customers.[1] National Basketball Association (NBA) champion LeBron James is one of the original investors in the chain, which is touted by Bloomberg “as the next Chipotle”.[2]

Blaze Pizza was ranked as the #2 brand in the 2015 Fast Casual Top 100.[3]

Concept

Blaze Pizza’s name was derived from how quickly a create-your-own pizza can be “Fast Fire’d” in an 800-degree open-flame oven – an average cook time is 3 minutes.[4] Customers begin by choosing which of the ingredients they’d like on their pizza pie. As they work their way down the assembly line, staff assist the customer at each step resulting in a unique custom pizza each time.[5] When they arrive at the end of the line, their custom-built pizza is ready to be cooked.[4][6]

The company’s culture encourages customer self-expression and individuality. Phrases such as “Cause a Scene Every Day”, “Be Unconventionally Wise”, “There is No Wrong Way to Play” and “Keep Your Feet Firmly Planted Off the Ground” are accompanied by full-wall visual graphics within the interior space of a Blaze Pizza. The company’s slogan is “Intelligent Choices for Our Pizzas, People & Planet.”

The restaurant’s décor is thoughtful and modern with an urban feel, which is created by the use of stainless steel and reclaimed wood. Blaze has carefully sourced its packaging to be eco-friendly. They purposefully source their tableware and packaging to be fully compostable and/or recyclable. Drink lids, straws and cups are made from plant-based materials. Their boxes are certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.

History

Blaze Pizza was founded in Pasadena, California by Rick and Elise Wetzel in 2011. The fast-fired, customizable pizza concept debuted with their first location in Irvine, California on August 2012[7] which was quickly followed two months later by the opening of their opening of their second, and flagship, location in October 2012 in Pasadena, California.[8] In 2014, Zagat noted Blaze Pizza as “One of 10 innovative restaurants around Los Angeles.”[9] The concept’s popularity has been fueled by its obsessive attention to food, design and its unique service culture.[10]

The 10 Blaze locations open throughout 2014 posted $1.55 million average unit volume. By the end of 2014 Blaze had 50 locations in 15 states.[11] Of those 50 locations, only three were company-owned with the rest being owned by franchise operators.[12] Blaze opened its first Chicago location in December 2013.[13] The company opened its first East Coast location in New York in July 2014.[14] In July 2015 the company announced its 80th location and said that it operates in 20 states including the major metropolitan areas of Los Angeles, New York City, Cincinnati, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Miami & Washington D.C.[10] The company's first Northern California location was opened in San Francisco in March 2015.[15] By December 2015, the company opened its 100th location in Indianapolis.[16] In April 2016, the company announced that they had 124 locations in 28 states plus Canada.[17]

The company established locations for the first time in the states of Wisconsin in November 2013,[18] Illinois in December 2013,[13] Indiana in February 2014,[19] Ohio in May 2014,[20] Kentucky in June 2014,[21] New York in July 2014,[14] South Dakota in August 2014,[22] Maryland in August 2014,[23] Michigan in September 2014,[24] New Jersey in November 2014,[25] Florida in November 2014,[26] Idaho in November 2014,[27] Tennessee in November 2014,[28] North Carolina in December 2014,[29] Texas in March 2015,[30] Louisiana in April 2015,[31] Nevada in May 2015,[32] Oregon in June 2015,[33] Minnesota in July 2015,[34] Oklahoma in October 2015,[35] Arkansas in October 2015,[36] Virginia in November 2015,[37] Connecticut in December 2015,[38] Pennsylvania in February 2016,[39] Arizona in April 2016,[40] Colorado in April 2016,[41] Utah in May 2016,[42] and Massachusetts in May 2016.[43]

In August, 2015 the company announced plans to open its first location outside the U.S., in Toronto, Canada.[44] The first Canadian location was opened in Toronto in October 2015,[45] followed by openings months later in Calgary in February 2016[46] and Edmonton in April 2016.[47]

Menu

File:Blaze Pizza's Artisan Pizza.jpg
Blaze's Artisan Pizza

In addition to their eight featured Signature Pizzas, a Build-Your-Own option is included. Blaze offers more than 40 fresh toppings to choose from;[48] and at a cost of about $8.00.[49] Each restaurant makes its own dough in-house from scratch.[50] Dough is fermented in the restaurant for 24 hours before use.[51] Blaze offers an optional gluten-free dough and vegan cheese.[52]

Executive Chef Brad Kent, a Culinary Institute of America in New York graduate with a degree in food science and nutrition, is responsible to creating Blaze Pizza’s dough and signature recipes.[53][54] In 2013, Kent was recognized by Zagat Guide in which it was written that "Chef Kent's pizzas are darn near perfect."[54]

Salads, S'more pies and blood orange lemonade are among other products listed among the menu. The company has also introduced online ordering[55] to help avoid lines. Where permitted by local alcoholic beverages laws, some franchises also serve beer.[31][35]

Investors

The brand quickly received attention from early celebrity investors such as journalist, activist and author Maria Shriver, NBA star LeBron James, American film producer John Davis, and Tom Werner, co-owner of the Boston Red Sox.[2]

Growth plan

By the end of 2014, Blaze became the first fast-casual pizza restaurant to achieved 50 opened units.[56] At that time, the company had commitments with franchise partners to open 343 restaurants in 39 states. The chain had grown to $33 million in sales and $1.55 AUV in 2014.[11] On pace to open an average of one new store every five days,[57] the company planned to have at least 500 locations by 2020. An initial public offering might by possible within two or three years after 2015.[2]

References

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  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  53. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  54. ↑ 54.0 54.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  55. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  56. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  57. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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