Blaze Pizza

Concept

Blaze Pizza’s name was derived from how quickly a create-your-own pizza can be “Fast Fire’d” in a high-temperature open-flame oven – an average cook time is 3 minutes. 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. When they arrive at the end of the line, their custom-built pizza is ready to be cooked.

In an interview with a restaurant industry trade magazine, executive chef Brad Kent describes the oven as a "7 foot (2.1 m)-wide gas-fired (60,000 BTU (63,000 kJ)) unit operated at average temperatures of 700 °F (371 °C) to 800 °F (427 °C)" According to Kent, unit managers are responsible for checking the correct temperature balance on a daily basis since there are three different temperature zones within the oven that requires monitoring. Since the high-temperature gas-fired pizza oven is the only piece of cooking equipment inside each of the restaurants, the same oven is also use to roast the chicken, cook the Italian sausage and meatballs, and bake some of the deserts.

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 which was quickly followed two months later by the opening of their second, and flagship, location in October 2012 in Pasadena, California. In 2014, Zagat noted Blaze Pizza as “One of 10 innovative restaurants around Los Angeles.” The concept’s popularity has been fueled by its obsessive attention to food, design and its unique service culture.

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. Of those 50 locations, only three were company-owned with the rest being owned by franchise operators. Blaze opened its first Chicago location in December 2013. The company opened its first East Coast location in New York in July 2014. 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. The company's first Northern California location was opened in San Francisco in March 2015. By December 2015, the company opened its 100th location in Indianapolis. In April 2016, the company announced that they had 124 locations in 28 states plus Canada. In August 2016, the 150th location was opened at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. During the first half of 2016, a new Blaze Pizza location was opened approximately every five days, while a new opening occurred once every seven days during the previous year.

The company established locations for the first time in the states of Wisconsin in November 2013, Illinois in December 2013, Indiana in February 2014, Ohio in May 2014, Kentucky in June 2014, New York in July 2014, South Dakota in August 2014, Maryland in August 2014, Michigan in September 2014, New Jersey in November 2014, Florida in November 2014, Idaho in November 2014, Tennessee in November 2014, North Carolina in December 2014, Texas in March 2015, Louisiana in April 2015, Nevada in May 2015, Oregon in June 2015, Minnesota in July 2015, Washington in September 2015, Oklahoma in October 2015, Arkansas in October 2015, Virginia in November 2015, Connecticut in December 2015, Pennsylvania in February 2016, Arizona in April 2016, Utah in May 2016, Massachusetts in May 2016, Colorado in June 2016, and Iowa in July 2016.

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

Menu

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; and at a cost of about $8 plus tax. Each restaurant makes its own dough in-house from scratch. Dough is fermented in the restaurant for 24 hours before use. Blaze offers an optional gluten-free dough and vegan cheese.

Executive Chef Brad Kent, a Culinary Institute of America in New York graduate with a degree in food science and nutrition, is responsible for creating Blaze Pizza’s dough and signature recipes. In 2013, a writer for Zagat Guide praised Kent's work by writing "Chef Kent's pizzas are darn near perfect."

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

Since 2014, the company hosts its annual Pi Day every March 14 (sometimes abbreviated as 3/14) in which all personal pizzas are sold at the discounted price of $3.14 plus tax. In August 2016, the company began to offer Aqua Fresca soft drinks that are made in house with real fruit. In addition to the S'more Pies, Blaze began to offer chocolate chip cookies and brownies, both of which are cooked in the same oven that is used to cook the pizzas, for desert in November 2016.

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.

Growth plan

By the end of 2014, Blaze became the first fast-casual pizza restaurant to achieved 50 opened units. 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. On pace to open an average of one new store every five days, 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.