Beto Guajardo, the new CEO of Blaze Pizza, said things are going to change at the fast-casual artisan pizza chain. And fast.
It was only Day Two for the new CEO, but he said there are opportunities for the 10-year-old brand to re-energize and renew as it moves into a next trajectory for growth, he said in an interview with Restaurant Business.
The Pasadena, Calif.-based chain on Wednesday announced that Guajardo had taken the CEO chair, replacing Mandy Shaw, who led Blaze through the pandemic. Guajardo was previously president of Focus Brands International, parent to Schlotzsky’s, Carvel, Auntie Anne’s and Cinnabon, among other brands.
He first joined Focus Brands in 2019 as president of the 370-unit Schlotzsky’s, and he is credited with turning that brand around, reaching 30 consecutive weeks of same-store sales growth under his leadership.
At Blaze, Guajardo said he’s planning to build on what is already plenty of brand love. But he comes to the fast-casual pizza space at a time of recovery.
When it was founded by Rick and Elise Wetzel in 2012, Blaze was among the fastest growing in a crowd of fast-casual pizza concepts coming out of Southern California, in particular. Some, like PizzaRev, fizzled out, but Blaze went on to become one of the leading players, with the help of celebrity backers, like NBA Star LeBron James, and private-equity partner Brentwood Associates.
Now with 330 mostly franchised units (about six are company owned), Blaze’s unit growth has dragged behind 506-unit competitor MOD Pizza. And Blaze’s $1.1 million average unit volumes have also been surpassed by MOD ($1.2 million), Donatos ($1.3 million) and &Pizza ($1.2 million), according to Restaurant Business sister company Technomic Ignite data.
Fast-casual pizza concepts like Blaze were initially designed to be the better alternative to lesser-quality delivered pizza. The crust is thinner and best fresh out of the pizza oven—it doesn’t travel as well, and that has presented a challenge at a time when consumers love their meals delivered like never before.
“Certainly, when you look at delivery of other pizza chains with their dedicated delivery drivers, their ability to ensure and manage the quality from production to table is significantly more controlled than you get with folks who are relying on third-party delivery providers,” said Guajardo. “So our perspective—even in early days here, it’s only been two days but the team and I have already discussed: how do we go about evaluating the demand from our consumers to have fast, quality, artisanal pizza brought to their home. What do we need to do from a menu perspective to ensure the product we’re producing is going to travel better than what you might get in the store, so that the quality expectations from a brand like Blaze Pizza is being met wherever you happen to receive that product.”
Quality is “tablestakes,” he said, but so are value and speed of service.
“As menus proliferate and raw ingredients proliferate, it can increase complexity in stores and it can slow down service. We need to evaluate that,” he said.
“Love for any restaurant brand is established because of the experience that our customers have in stores,” he added. “When the job is overly complex, when the job is overly burdensome, you lose the opportunity to have a great interaction with your customer. And we want to bring that great energy and excitement to customers on every visit through every interaction they have with our Blaze employees.”
Guajardo said he plans to spend some time getting to know the team and Blaze franchisees to better understand what they need to be successful.
Within the next few months, he plans to have a strategy in place that will lay out where Blaze is going, he said.
Blaze has a strong presence in the Southeast and Western U.S., but Guajardo sees room for growth in the American heartland, as well as overseas.
“Our goal is to be amongst the top-performing fast-casual brands in the marketplace,” said Guajardo. “When you think about what top-performing looks like, you’re looking at delivering annual double-digit top-line revenue growth and expanding operating profit delivery by at least 15% a year. That’s going to have to come through a combination of same-store sales growth and new store expansion.”
There are more communities, more geographies and more investors that Blaze has to reach, he added. “And we’re excited to put it on that next trajectory.”