Chipotle-like pizza parlors challenge the dominance of usual favorites

Fast-casual pizza parlors are becoming popular and are beginning to present a real challenge to the usual favorites like Pizza Hut and Domino’s.

These new kids on the pizza block, like MOD Pizza, Pieology, and Blaze Pizza appealing to hungry customers who are always on the go. Their rising popularity is thanks to the speed in which they are baked and delivered. In addition to that, they provide flexibility and variety to the customers and small but important comforts that make pizza-munching a quick, but still, enjoyable exercise. 

These fast-casual pizza chains take their cue from Chipotle. Instead of having a waiter take a pizza order, which will then be baked into sizzling slices in the kitchen, it is the customers who actually make and create their own pizza. They line up in front of a table filled with mouth-watering ingredients, pick out the items they’d like for their pizza, and then submit it to the cook who will bake it in record time. For example, a family of four just might have four differently-flavored pizzas: Dad will munch on meat-heavy combinations, Mom will go vegetarian, the teenage son will combine both, while the mid-school daughter will want a more sweetened flavor.

Fast and casual pizza parlors are rising in popularity in the US. (Source)

Business Insider names MOD Pizza as the fastest-growing chain not just in the pizza business, but in the entire restaurant sector as well. Founded by former Starbucks executive Scott Svenson, MOD Pizza now has 227 stores all across the United States and the United Kingdom. 

Since its establishment in 2008, it has grown by 220 percent. There are plans to add 60 more shops this year. Svenson left his cushy job in Starbucks to found MOD Pizza because he was driven by a desire to make pizza dining fun and exciting again. He had found the old reliables too conventional and boring. One of MOD Pizza’s innovations is the removable lid over every pizza box delivered. It did away with the conventional flapping cover and made pizza eating more convenient.

Another front-runner, Blaze Pizza, also has 200 shops. The respectable third, Pieology, has about 135. Both of them, along with MOD Pizza, will be building new branches in the toughest business environment of all, New York City. As summarized by BuzzFeed News, their enthusiasm and determination to break into this market show how fast the fast-casual pizza chain is catching on. Pizza Hut and Domino’s should watch their back.