CEO Mike Burns is “all in” when it comes to revitalizing &pizza’s place in the fast-casual segment. He, the senior vice president of marketing, and head of operations each got an ampersand tattooed on their body a few weeks ago to prove just how committed they are.

The decision represents the type of culture &pizza had lost in recent years, according to Burns, who joined as chief executive in November. He was attracted to the position last year because of the brand’s prior history of punching above its weight class with rebellious branding and being pro-employee with a $15 per hour minimum wage before most hopped on the bandwagon. That level of recognition struck a chord with Burns, especially after seeing how his fast-food manager father treated his workers for over 30 years.

“They weren’t afraid to say, ‘Hey, look, we pay more than you,'” Burns says. “It maybe isn’t the best thing to do for our P&L, but it’s the best thing to do for our people. And that really is what attracted me to the brand. I think they did a lot of things that were on the edge of counterculture. They were big into 4/20 before everybody was into 4/20. They were marrying people on Pi Day. We did all these things and hired employees that maybe other people necessarily wouldn’t hire and treated them really, really well.”

The CEO adds that at some point leading up to COVID, the 55-unit &pizza “became a little too corporate.” Certain things couldn’t be said, the music was deemed inappropriate, and the menu was streamlined to the point where it became “kind of boring like everybody else,” Burns says. None of these choices were aligned with what helped &pizza build a cult-following in the DMV market over the years.

But to Burns, it was an easy fix because the playbook was already written. It started with employees who were allowed to wear their hats backward, flaunt their multi-colored hair, and showcase their facial piercings.

“All we need to do is go back to what we did—let employees be themselves and crank the music up,” Burns says. “Let customers come in and feel the vibe. You can go anywhere and get a slice of pizza, but you can’t come anywhere and have loud music and edgy employees that almost have to yell to place your order and the customers have to yell back and it’s kind of like this fun interaction. We have a lot of stores that are walk-up only, very limited seating. We have a mix of urban and residential but it’s all just an experience unlike any other pizza place.”

The menu will also be a return to norm. For instance, &pizza in mid-April will bring back its Farmer’s Daughter pie, with a fried egg, slices of sausage, and whole strips of bacon. The mushroom-based Moonstruck pizza will be on the menu again too. Burns says these items were cut to make employees’ lives easier since they were operationally unfriendly. They’ve now been tweaked and are easier to handle in the back of house. Additionally, the dill pickle will get extra shine, except it’s now known as the Dickle—a name that plays to a certain sense of humor that &pizza has always been known for.

&pizza plans to get employees involved in the menu innovation process by having a March Madness–style bracket contest where workers face each other to see whose pizza creation is the best. The winner, who must be an hourly employee, will receive $5,000 and their pizza will be placed on menus in the third quarter. The chain will do the same contest for consumers.

Another step was tightening operations, which is a passion for Burns as the former COO of Pizza Inn and Pie Five. Previously, roughly 40 restaurants in the DMV were led by one district manager. Ops are now centralized in Washington, D.C., led by a new vice president of operations. Also, five employees were internally promoted to district manager so that no one’s coverage is bigger than eight stores. More importantly, Burns says, these workers have tenure. They’ve felt the ups and downs of the brand and understand the significance of returning to &pizza’s roots.

The company freed up capital for the revamped operations department by streamlining its tech stack. &pizza’s digital platforms used to be powered by a proprietary system featuring order accuracy screens and text message ordering. But the upkeep required a lot of time and effort for a team of essentially two employees in the IT department. &pizza faced the choice of either building it out and selling it to other companies or focusing on selling pizza. Burns chose the latter.

&pizza quickly signed deals to outsource its tech needs to Thanx, Toast, and Olo, and came away with a revamped POS system, website, and mobile app. All the contracts were in place by December 31.

Thanx in particular helped the chain created a new loyalty program called “Dead Presidents Club.” The program is divided between three statuses: Washington (bronze), Lincoln (silver), and Benjamin (gold). The Benjamin tier offers a “Birthday Party” package that includes 10 drinks and 10 pizzas, along with a monthly free pizza and exclusive VIP Benjamin T-shirt. To be clear, &pizza knows Benjamin Franklin wasn’t a president—it just doesn’t care. Yet another callback to its anarchy-like nature.

Lincoln tier members receive a “Birthday Dinner” with two drinks and two pizzas, along with monthly BOGO pizzas, and a VIP Lincoln T-shirt. As an introductory reward, loyalty members receive a free pie and a complimentary birthday pie. 

Also, self-ordering kiosks will be in all restaurants by April 1. There’s so much change that Burns feels as if “throughput just went up by 5x by just flipping a switch and a lot of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears in the background.”

“We have a marketing department of one and a tech team of two. So to get this thing across the finish line, in less than 90 days, was something that we told people we were going to do,” Burns says. “And everybody said we were crazy and couldn’t do it. You see all these press releases, ‘So and so just signed up to roll out kiosks and they’re launching all stores in 2025.’ Well, we did that in 60 days.”

Unit growth won’t go slow either. The first location under the new leadership team will open in August and some others have been picked out for early next year. &pizza didn’t have any franchises until about eight months ago when it refranchised three stores in New Jersey, however, the brand will lean further in that direction and look for more operators starting in the summer.

The chain currently has internal personnel who can help with selecting real estate and is working toward selecting an external group to assist with franchise development. Burns is confident in &pizza’s franchisable characteristics: food, labor, and paper costs under 55 percent; only two workers needed to run a restaurant at peak periods; 55 percent off-premises sales, meaning smaller boxes and lower buildout costs; cheaper equipment packages; and simple decor.

The key will be partnering with franchisees who understand the company’s mission. An ampersand tattoo may not be mandatory, but a snarky, yet employee-first philosophy will be.

“It’s pizza. It should be fun,” Burns says. “We’ve taken that and gone again back to our roots where it used to be a lot of fun and we’re going back there.”