After spending a year working to return &pizza to its more-edgy roots, the fast-casual pizza chain on Thursday announced it is officially open for franchising for the first time.
That push will include the refranchising of all but about 10 of the chain’s 46 company units. Last year, &pizza shuttered 13 restaurants, including some non-traditional locations, in a right-sizing of the portfolio.
In addition, the brand has put in place a number of other efficiencies designed to cut “distractions,” simplify operations and focus on growing the business, like closing the dough manufacturing facility.
CEO Mike Burns said he would ideally like to see the chain shift to a model where 90% of units are franchised and 10% are company owned. The chain has a goal of reaching 300 locations by 2030.
The under-performing locations closed oer the past year were mostly in the Northeast and outskirts of the District of Columbia, which Burns said was necessary after a review of the portfolio. Those locations were initially located near office centers that never fully repopulated after COVID-19, though rents remained high, Burns said.
The 46 remaining units, which include six licensed locations, are mostly in the Mid-Atlantic region. Rather than take the brand back into the Northeast, which has its own local pizza culture, Burns would like to see franchisees take the brand to the South, which he described as a better value play.
“We’re not competing with the $20 per hour minimum wage, and real estate is cheaper, so the red line comes way down,” he said. “There’s not a certain style [of pizza] in Charlotte or Atlanta or even Florida. … We feel like we’re different than most other fast-casual places places, and this would play well in those markets, especially in college towns.”
&pizza has made several big moves to prepare for franchising.
For example, the chain had previously developed its own tech stack, but in the past year &pizza shifted to tech-providers Olo, Toast and Thanx to “let the experts do what they do,” said Burns.
The Washington, D.C.-based chain has also closed its dough manufacturing facility, shifting instead to a third-party manufacturer.
“We don’t want to have 30 employees focused on technology and how to make dough, when there are other resources we can use that can do it faster, better,” said Burns. “If we had 1,000 restaurants, it might make sense to make our own dough, or it might make sense to build your own IT stack, but we don’t. So I need to take that G&A that I have and deploy it towards operations, and franchise sales and culinary, because that’s really what’s going to drive this business forward.”
And though &pizza has spent the past year reclaiming its irreverent vibe and snarky marketing tone, Burns said the brand has also had to reinvent itself somewhat as a post-COVID concept.
“We believe fast-casual pizza in its current state is dead,” he said. “It was 70% dine in before COVID, now it’s 70% carryout.”
&pizza was founded in 2012 by Michael Lastoria at a time when fast-casual pizza was the hottest niche. RSE Ventures invested in the brand in 2017 and still holds a minority stake, but the chain is primarily owned by Kennedy Lewis Investment Management, which took a majority stake in 2023, bringing Burns to the CEO suite.
Fundamentally, the pies that were originally designed to be enjoyed hot out of the oven were not holding up when consumers ordered for delivery or took the pizzas home, said Burns.
“And we were very experience-driven. The music was loud, employees were, we feel, cooler. Restaurants were dark and unique. There was a vibe,” he said. “Now 70% of the people who order pies don’t even experience that.”
&pizza is a simple "plug and play" operation. | Photo courtesy of &pizza.
So &pizza reformulated its dough to be a bit thicker, so it travels better. Packaging is also being worked on to keep the pies hot.
And Burns said the chain is looking to add more experiences to off-premise sales, though he couldn’t reveal yet what’s being tested.
“We think it’s important to have the &pizza experience at your house,” he said.
Changes over the past year have also included a move away from discounting, instead focusing on everyday value, said Burns. Now that more people are coming back to office work, the chain is launching lunch combo meals again, for example. In a few weeks, half pies, with a drink and cookie, will also launch, which the chain has never tried before.
&pizza has about 250,000 users in its loyalty program, which has been called the Dead Presidents club. With franchising, however, the plan is to change that name, which was kind of an inside-the-Beltway joke —though that irreverent name attracted Hulu as a partner for a recent limited-time promotion around the streaming series “Paradise.” (Spoiler: the storyline includes a dead president.)
Other counter-culture aspects of &pizza’s positioning will not change, Burns said, like the celebration of 4/20 as a national holiday, the Pi Day weddings of (often same-sex) fanatics and promotions involving free pizzas for those willing to sport permanent “&” tattoos. There’s a pickle-topped pizza on the menu called the Dickle.
“That’s who we are,” said Burns. “We want to make sure [franchisees] are comfortable with what we do. And that will weed some people out.”
The brand will be franchised under &Pizza Franchise LLC, which is a subsidiary of parent IMA Pizza LLC, both based in Dallas, according to the chain’s Franchise Disclosure Document, which listed median annual gross sales ranging from $746,900 to $1.3 million. The corporate office, however, will remain in Washington, D.C.
Burns hopes the brand will appeal to experienced multi-brand franchise operators looking to diversify their portfolios.
“This is pretty plug and play,” he said. “If you can operate a sandwich shop, you can operate this 10 times easier.”
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