News

Blaze to expand footprint to 28 states, Canada in 2015

Blaze Fast-Fire'd Pizza, a fast casual artisanal pizza chain, released financial results for its fiscal year ending December 28, 2014 along with its outlook for fiscal year 2015.

April 29, 2015

Blaze Fast-Fire'd Pizza, a fast casual artisanal pizza chain, released financial results for its fiscal year ending December 28, 2014 along with its outlook for fiscal year 2015. The build-your-own pizza chain, plans to set foot in Canada this year, with expectations to open at least 2,000 units in the United States and an additional 1,000 units in international markets.

2014 Highlights:

• Opened 40 new restaurants to finish the year with 50 operating restaurants (47 franchised and 3 company-owned).
• Expanded its footprint to 15 states, compared to four states in 2013.  At year-end, restaurants were open in 26 markets including the major metropolitan areas of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Detroit, Tampa, Miami, Sacramento, Raleigh-Durham, Indianapolis, San Diego, Columbus, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Louisville and Knoxville.
• Achieved average unit volume of $1.55 million for the 10 restaurants open all year (trailing 12-month AUV as of January 2015).
• Grew system-wide sales to $33 million, compared to $6 million in 2013.  The system-wide sales "run-rate" of the 50 restaurants is forecast at $77 million if AUV remains $1.55 million.
• Achieved comparable same store sales increase of 26.7 percent.
• Achieved system-wide check average of $11.63.
• Averaged cash investment per restaurant of $660k including preopening expenses.
• Added 14 new multi-unit franchise partners. At year-end, the company had 36 franchise partners with commitments to open a total of 343 restaurants in 39 states.
• Added its first international franchise partner in an agreement to expand the company into Canada with a plan to open 60 restaurants.
• Engaged guests with social media, averaging 4.2 star Yelp ratings and over 1,000 Facebook fans per restaurant.
• Celebrated its co-founders, Elise and Rick Wetzel, being named to 'The 50 Power List' by Nation's Restaurant News.

2015 Outlook:

• The opening of 62 new restaurants to finish the year with 112 operating restaurants (107 franchised and 5 company-owned).
• Expanding its footprint to 28 states, compared to 15 states in 2014.  At year-end, the company expects to be operating in 53 markets including new entry into Dallas, Boston, Atlanta, Houston, Minneapolis, Denver, Orlando, St. Louis, Portland, Charlotte, Nashville, Kansas City, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Austin, Jacksonville and New Orleans.
• Beginning international expansion in Canada with restaurants opening in Toronto, Edmonton and Calgary.
• Forecasting system-wide sales "run-rate" of the 112 restaurants to be $173 million if AUV remains $1.55 million.
• Planning to add four to six more franchise partners for a total of 40 to 42 franchise groups committed to opening approximately 500 restaurants across the United States and Canada in the next few years.
• Introducing new radio and television ads and a mobile app that supports online ordering, loyalty, mobile pay and social connectivity – all designed to strengthen guest attachment and increase daily guest transactions.