Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Restaurants |
Founded | Dallas, Texas (1958 ) |
Founders | Joe Spillman R. L. Spillman |
Headquarters | , US |
Number of locations | 252 (2021) |
Key people | Brandon Solano (CEO) |
Products | |
Parent | Rave Restaurant Group |
Website | www |
Pizza Inn is a Dallas-based restaurant chain and international food franchise, specializing in American-style pan pizza, pasta, and side dishes, owned by Rave Restaurant Group
The company is based in the Dallas suburb of The Colony, Texas. [1] At its peak, Pizza Inn had over 500 locations in 20 states. [2] As of June 28, 2020, Pizza Inn had 252 stores within the United States, located primarily in towns within the Southern United States, and 38 stores internationally. [3]
In 1958, two Texas brothers, F.J. (Joe) and R. L. Spillman, [4] opened the first Pizza Inn in Dallas.
In the mid-1980s, the restaurant chain had a commercial deal with the Von Erich family, with Kerry Von Erich, Kevin Von Erich, and Mike Von Erich appearing in a series of televised commercials.
In June 2011, Pizza Inn launched the fast casual restaurant Pie Five Pizza, which specializes in customizable pizzas that are made within five minutes, in Fort Worth, Texas. [1] [5] They had five locations within the Fort Worth area by the end of the year. [5] As of January 2015, they had 31 locations. [5]
In October 2011, Pizza Inn opened their first of five planned Chinese locations in Hangzhou, China. [6]
Former PepsiCo and Yum! Brands executive Randy Gier joined the company in 2012. He was CEO until 2016. [7] [8]
On January 9, 2015, the parent company Pizza Inn Holdings (ticker symbol: "PZZI") was rebranded as a portfolio company named Rave Restaurant Group (ticker symbol: "RAVE") as Pie Five Pizza locations began to increase. [5]
In May 2018, Rave Restaurant Group opened its first PIE by Pizza Inn Express pizza kiosks with Delaware North at the Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport. [2] [9]
On February 5, 2021, Pizza Inn reported improving sales amid hectic environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the period ending December 27, domestic same-store sales decreased from $18.95 million to $15.46 million, or 18.4 percent for the company, which is the chain's best performing quarter since the pandemic began. Pizza Inn also saw comparative sales drop 39 percent in the quarter ending June 28 and 22 percent in the quarter ending September 27. [10]
On January 5, 2021, Pizza Inn released a 630-word statement regarding the company's concerns about the legitimacy of the 2020 US presidential election. "Like most Americans, we are alarmed by the uncertainties and resulting lack of faith in our election system," CEO Brandon Solano said in the statement. [11] While the release stated it was not advocating to overturn the election, Pizza Inn and its leadership expressed that "hastily certifying the results in Congress" was not "appropriate". The statement went on to advocate for specific changes to federal voting laws, including voter ID, the elimination of electronic voting machines, and the elimination of mail-in ballots. [12] Following the events of January 6th, Pizza Inn apparently took down the press release from the PR Newswire website, though it was still accessible on the company's Facebook page. [13]
Chuck E. Cheese is a chain of American family entertainment centers and restaurants founded in 1977 by Atari's co-founder Nolan Bushnell. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, each location features arcade games, amusement rides and musical shows in addition to serving pizza and other food items; former mainstays included ball pits, crawl tubes, and animatronic shows. The chain's name is taken from its main character and mascot, Chuck E. Cheese. The first location opened as Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre in San Jose, California. It was the first family restaurant to integrate food with arcade games and animated entertainment, thus being one of the pioneers for the "family entertainment center" concept.
Papa John's International, Inc., d/b/a Papa Johns, is an American pizza restaurant chain. It is the fourth largest pizza delivery restaurant chain in the United States, with headquarters in the Louisville, Kentucky and Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan areas.
Round Table Pizza is a chain and franchise of pizza parlours in the Western United States. The first Round Table Pizza restaurant was opened in 1959, and the company has over 400 restaurants. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) is an American casual dining restaurant chain that specializes in California-style pizza. The restaurant was started in 1985 by attorneys Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax in Beverly Hills, California, United States. California Pizza Kitchen introduced and popularized BBQ Chicken Pizza.
LaRosa's Pizzeria is a chain of pizzerias serving neighborhoods throughout Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. It was founded in 1954 by Donald "Buddy" LaRosa, along with partners Richard "Muzzie" Minella, Mike Soldano and Frank "Head" Serraino. Originally called Papa Gino's, LaRosa later bought out his partners, and changed the name to LaRosa's.
Cicis, formerly known as CiCi's Pizza, is an American chain of buffet restaurants based in Coppell, Texas, specializing in pizza. The company was founded in 1985, and started franchising by 1987. In November 2015, the company began a new marketing campaign which included the renaming of the company to Cicis, along with the addition of a new logo and redesigned website.
Grimaldi's Pizzeria is an American pizzeria chain from the New York City area with over 40 restaurants throughout the United States. Its most famous restaurant is under the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn at 1 Front Street, next door to its original location. Zagat Survey rated Grimaldi's the No. 1 Pizzeria in New York in 2007. With a carry-out and delivery service model in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2022 it had 43 restaurants in operation overall. It does not sell slices, only whole pies, which are cooked by coal-fired brick ovens. It also sells wines and appetizers, as well as calzones. Among desserts are cannoli and tiramisu, as well as New York–style cheesecake.
Pizza Patrón Inc. is an American pizza chain headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1986 by Antonio Swad and Bernadette Fiaschetti. Swad sold Pizza Patrón in 2016 to Charles Loflin, the new CEO. It was formerly headquartered in Dallas.
Marco's Pizza, operated by Marco's Franchising, LLC, is an American restaurant chain and interstate franchise based in Toledo, Ohio, that specializes in Italian-American cuisine. The first store was opened in Oregon, Ohio, on Starr Avenue. It was founded by Italian immigrant Pasquale "Pat" Giammarco on February 18, 1978.
Giordano's is an American pizzeria chain that specializes in Chicago-style stuffed pizza. Brothers Efren and Joseph Boglio founded Giordano's in 1974 in Chicago, Illinois. The pizzeria has since expanded to over 65 locations in Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, Nevada, and Wisconsin. The chain has also expanded to offer catering and ship frozen pizzas in the United States.
SPB Hospitality is a multi-brand restaurant operator headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company owns several casual dining restaurant chain brands, including Logan's Roadhouse, Old Chicago Pizza + Taproom, J. Alexander's, Stoney River Steak House, Krystal Restaurants, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants, and Rock Bottom Restaurants Breweries. As of November 2019, CraftWorks owned and operated over 390 restaurants in the United States, but all of its owned-and-operated locations closed by March 2020, after a Chapter 11 bankruptcy followed immediately by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, and CraftWorks and terminated its 18,000 employees, leaving fewer than 25 employed. On June 12, 2020, SPB Hospitality purchased Craftworks businesses out of bankruptcy for $93 million.
Pie Five Pizza is an American fast casual restaurant chain specializing in personal pizza. The brand is owned by Rave Restaurant Group, which also owns Pizza Inn. As of July 2021, Pie Five operates 33 restaurants with locations in the following states: Arkansas, California, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Texas.
National Pizza Month is an American observance that occurs for the month of October every year.
MOD Pizza is an American fast-casual pizza restaurant chain based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 2008, MOD has more than 560 locations as of December 2023 in the United States and two locations in Canada.
Chicken Salad Chick is a fast casual restaurant chain and franchise of chicken salad restaurants based in Atlanta, Georgia. To date, the chain consists of over 280 franchise restaurants and stores in 19 different U.S. states.
A virtual restaurant, also known as a ghost kitchen, cloud kitchen or dark kitchen, is a food service business that serves customers exclusively by delivery and pick-up based on phone and online ordering. Virtual restaurants are stand-alone businesses that either operate out of an existing restaurant's kitchen or from a separate kitchen set-up away from a restaurant. By not having a full-service restaurant with a storefront and dining room, virtual restaurants can economize by occupying cheaper real estate. The reduced space lowers overall overhead and operational costs, thus yielding higher profit margins, as the price of the food provided is typically not changed. The virtual restaurant's single kitchen format allows for multiple brands to share kitchen space.
Pizza Factory Inc. is a chain of pizza restaurants in the western United States, based in Oakhurst, California. The company began in 1979, when Danny Wheeler and his wife Carol opened Danny's Red Devil Pizza in Oakhurst. Ron Willey and his wife Joyce subsequently opened a second location in 1981, known as Pizza Factory.
Pieology Pizzeria is a Tustin, California-based pizza chain within the fast-casual dining restaurants category. Founded in 2011 by Carl Chang, the brother of former tennis player Michael Chang, Pieology's mission is to "turn one of America's favorite food into an affordable and interactive experience". Pieology's main rivals are Blaze Pizza and MOD Pizza. By October 2018, Pieology had a single unit in Mexico plus approximately 140 units in 23 American states and territories with more than half of those restaurants located in the state of California.
Rosati's Authentic Chicago Pizza, doing business as Rosati's Pizza, is an American casual dining restaurant chain specializing in Chicago-style pizza. Its headquarters is in Elgin, Illinois. There are more than 200 locations across the United States, with more than a third of them in Illinois. Rosati's has over $211 million in revenue and was founded in 1926 by Saverio Rosati at the corner of Pulaski and Madison in Chicago's west side. That location closed down and in 1964 reopened in Mount Prospect, IL. In 1995 Saverio's five sons, Fred, Richard, Al, Bill and Ronald grew the company to be the fourth largest pizza chain in the Chicago area behind Pizza Hut, Domino's and Little Caesars, in 2018 they were listed as number 21 on Pizza Today's list of the top 100 pizzerias.