Pie Five Pizza is an American

fast casual A fast casual restaurant, found primarily in the United States and Canada, does not offer full table service, but advertises higher quality food than fast food restaurants, with fewer frozen or processed ingredients. It is an intermediate conc ...

restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

specializing in personal pizza. The brand is owned by Rave Restaurant Group, which also owns

Pizza Inn Pizza Inn is a Dallas-based restaurant chain and international food franchise, specializing in American-style pan pizza, pasta, and side dishes. The company is based in the Dallas suburb of The Colony, Texas. At its peak, Pizza Inn had over 50 ...

. , Pie Five operates 33 restaurants with locations in the following states:

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, Oklahoma,

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

Concept

Pie Five was named for the concept of preparing a customized pizza in five minutes. The menu offers standard and made-to-order personal pizzas, salads, calzones, bread, and dessert. Many locations serve beer.

History

On June 3, 2011, the company

opened the first Pie Five Pizza in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...

. They had five locations within the Fort Worth area by the end of the year, and as of January 2015, they had 31 locations. Former PepsiCo and

Yum! Brands Yum! Brands, Inc. (or Yum!), formerly Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc., is an American fast food corporation listed on the Fortune 1000. Yum! operates the brands KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill, except in China, where the ...

executive Randy Gier joined the company in 2012. He served as CEO until 2016. On January 9, 2015, the parent company Pizza Inn Holdings (ticker symbol: "PZZI") was rebranded as a

portfolio company A portfolio company is a company or entity in which a venture capital firm, a startup studio, or a holding company invests. All companies currently backed by a private equity firm can be spoken of as the firm's portfolio Portfolio may refer to: ...

named Rave Restaurant Group (ticker symbol: "RAVE") as Pie Five Pizza locations began to increase. In March 2017, Pie Five announced that all but one of the nine Chicago locations were closing, with only one more opening. Pie Five closed several midwestern stores in March 2017, including two locations in the Twin Cities metro in Eden Prairie and Woodbury and several Chicago area locations, to focus on its other markets. Later that year, they opened their first West Coast store in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. Three locations opened in south central Pennsylvania in early 2017, before converting to a regional franchise and ultimately closing in early 2018. In October 2019, RAVE Restaurant Group announced that its board of directors has named Brandon L. Solano as

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

. In end-of-quarter/fiscal-year reporting as of October 2020, Pive Five comparable store retail sales had decreased 15.7 percent from the previous year, with most of the 42 locations said to be using third-party delivery services. A January 2021 analysis of the chain's struggles identified reasons such as a highly competitive market, very fast location growth and franchising, accustomizing pizza customers to the fast-casual individual experience, mixed reviews at individual locations that may have kept customers from returning, poor marketing investment, potential impending Nasdaq delisting, and a 2018 credit card security breach. In March 2021, Pie Five had announced a new Panzano Pan Crust. The company says it is uniquely positioned against its competitors to make this product because of the types of ovens they use.

Awards

Pie Five Pizza is considered a pioneer of the first fast casual pizza category and has twice been named among Fast Casual's Top 15 "Movers & Shakers" (2013/2014). Pie Five has also been recognized as a 2012 Hot Concepts winner by ''Nation's Restaurant News'' and one of "10 Hot New Restaurant Chains from Established Brands" by Forbes.com.

References

External links

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Rave Restaurant GroupFastCasual: Pie Five Pizza expands into FloridaMarketWatch:Former Applebee's President and CEO to Open 10 Pie Five Pizza Locations in Kansas City Area
{{Fast-food chains of the United States Pizza chains of the United States Restaurants in Texas Fast casual restaurants Pizza franchises Restaurants established in 2011 American companies established in 2011 2011 establishments in Texas

Concept

History

Awards

See also

References

External links