The Pizza Press, a fast-casual, build-your-own pizza restaurant, is gearing up for national expansion, with 30 new restaurants slated to open by early 2018.
As the franchise continues its development efforts, it has put an extreme focus on maintaining local relevance in new regions. Each location offers locally brewed beers, specialized design elements, and fundraisers to provide community support.
“It’s important to maintain locally relevant to the communities we serve as our brand continues to grow nationally,” says Dara Maleki, CEO of the Pizza Press. “By offering locally brewed beers, custom design elements, and the opportunity for local operators to help their communities through fundraisers and exclusive promotions, we make it our highest priority to contribute as much as possible.”
Whether it be regional flavors or specialty seasonal offerings, each restaurant puts an emphasis on local craft beers. Next month, Pizza Press locations in California, Texas, and Florida will be featuring an exclusive peanut butter brew at each location. California will feature Karl Strauss Peanut Butter Cup Porter, Texas will pour Infamous Brewing’s Sweep the Leg Peanut Butter Stout, and Florida locations will offer Funky Buddha Brewing Butta’ Cup Double Brown Ale.
To make each location unique, local operators are encouraged to incorporate custom design elements to their build-out while staying true to brand standards. They can utilize architectural designs and artistic aspects to appeal to their local community.
To remain localized and engrained in each community, locations or regions help support local causes by hosting fundraisers or promotions.
Last month, California restaurants held Firefighter Appreciation Days to give back to local heroes in response to their battle with the forest fires that threatened their employees, businesses, and customers.
“Having the freedom and flexibility to customize some design elements and host fundraising efforts that have true meaning to our community has made a world of difference,” says Lisa Hilo, owner of a Pizza Press in Austin, Texas. “Beyond serving a superior product, we’re able to remain locally relevant and appeal to our niche communities as the brand continues to grow its presence nationwide.”
The Pizza Press is dedicated to elevating the build-your-own pizza model by creating an immersive Americana newspaper theme in which great food, craft beer, ambience, and service are combined. Inspired by the mechanized dough press, the Pizza Press harkens back to an industrialized era when newspapers were the foundation of the community.
The franchise has more than 16 locations in southern California alone. The Pizza Press is poised to hit the 100 units sold mark in 2017 and plans to have a total 300 locations awarded by 2020. As the franchise continues to grow nationally, it maintains focus on catering to the local communities it serves by implementing these locally inspired components.
