Second artisan pizzeria coming to Chambersburg
CHAMBERSBURG -- A second restaurant that fires up made-to-order pizza in minutes is being built within easy access of Interstate 81 Exit 17.
MOD Pizza plans to open a shop between the Red Robin restaurant and the Target store, according to Borough Manager Jeffrey Stonehill.
MOD Pizza, 917 Norland Ave., will open less than a half mile from competitor Pie Five, 580 Walker Road.
Competition in this emerging fast food market is not the full-sized pizza war of Pizza Hut and Papa John’s.
MOD and Pie Five offer quick, personal-sized pizzas. Customers build their own artisan pizzas, similar to the way they order hoagie sandwiches at Subway. The pizzas are fired in high-temperature ovens.
MOD Pizza shops also offer milkshakes, made-to-order salads, lemonade, iced tea and sodas.
The Pie Five menu includes salads made to order, bread sticks and cookie pies.
Seattle-based MOD Pizza claims to be the original super fast pizza experience. Scott and Ally Svenson established MOD Pizza in 2008 in Seattle, Washington. The couple previously founded Seattle Coffee Company, which was sold to Starbucks in 1998. MOD stands for “made on demand.”
MOD uses the business as a platform for creating positive social change, according to a company press release. The company offers above-industry pay and benefits and hires people with special needs. MOD has supported food banks and groups helping youth and families at risk.
MOD Super Fast Pizza Holdings LLC reported in March that it added 100 locations during 2016, including first-time spots in Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, Wisconsin and the United Kingdom. It had commitments from nine franchisees to open 247 stores. The company employs more than 4,000 people.
The Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report by Technomic named MOD Pizza the nation’s fastest-growing chain restaurant in America for 2015. The magazine Inc. named MOD one of the 500 fastest-growing companies in the U.S.
“The fast casual custom-built pizza segment is today’s break-out growth sector,” said Darren Tristano, president of food industry consultant Technomic. “With consumer demand for high-quality ingredients, consumer-controlled customization and the investment in growth from brand leaders like MOD Pizza, this segment is poised for double-digit growth over the next five years and beyond.”
Dallas-based Pie Five Pizza Co. has more than 100 restaurants in 24 states. The company topped the “Future 50” list of fast-growing restaurant chains with a 151 percent growth in nationwide sales ($40 million) in 2016. The list includes three other casual pizza chains -- Pizza Studio, Spin! Neopolitian Pizza and PizzaRev. Restaurant Business magazine and Technomic compiled the list.
Pie Five also has other honors: Fast Casual's Top "Movers & Shakers" for three consecutive years, 2015 "Best Franchise Deal" by QSR Magazine, 2012 Hot Concepts winner by Nation's Restaurant News and one of "10 Hot New Restaurant Chains from Established Brands" by Forbes.com.
The borough issued a land use permit for the construction of MOD Pizza building in March. The pad site was approved in 2006 as part of the land development plan for the Chambersburg Crossing shopping center along Norland Avenue.
MOD Pizza on Monday did not respond by deadline to a reporter's questions.
One pad from the original Chambersburg Crossing remains to be developed, according to Phil Wolgemuth, borough land use and development director. The site is located next to PetSmart and behind TGI Friday's.
Jim Hook, 717-262-4759