They looked around at all of the different food and beverage concepts and saw something missing in the fried chicken category. Join us in building healthier businesses and a better world. Column: 15 minutes of fame flies by. Both couples are shooting to elevate the Lucky Bird brand and take their California-inspired fried chicken concept to the next level. Wetzel, whom Phelps calls a serial entrepreneur, just launched a fast-casual restaurant concept called Blaze Pizza this year with locations in Pasadena and Irvine. "We're doing chicken in a California way," Wetzel said. The cookie stores an ID that is used to display ads on the users' browser. That doesn't include his partnership with restaurateur Larry Levy, who runs franchises in Miami and Chicago for him. He adds that the dough used for the thin-crust Neapolitan style bakes much quicker than traditional crusts. "In the Eagle Rock location, we can offer vegetarian dishes and gluten-free items.". You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. from the very first day, the cups are all plant-based so Jalen Rose analyzes what it means that LeBron James' pizza franchise is opening a new location inside of the Staples Center. Prior to launching Blaze Pizza, Rick co-founded Wetzel's Pretzels, LLC in 1994 and served as its President. Unconventional travel with Adnan Juwayhil and his family. The value of James, who currently has 37 million Twitter followers and 32 million Instagram followers, was seen immediately. We were exasperated," Chris Dane recalls. remain true to the Blaze brand. With strong financial support and operational systems in place, fast-casual pizza brands are rushing to secure top-shelf, multiunit franchisees and grade-A real estate locations. They travel for pleasure and have two school-age children. Their executives all toss around the words artisan, choice, and control and regularly reference other fast-casual categories, like Mexican, sandwich, and burgers, in conversation. And Blaze Pizza doesnt just have the Wetzels Pretzels success to tout; executive chef Bradford Kent is one of the most highly acclaimed pizza chefs in the country, and the brand counts former California first lady Maria Shriver, basketball superstar LeBron James, Boston Red Sox chairman Tom Werner, and Panda Express founder Andrew Cherng among its investors. Wetzel discusses the chains evolution and how NBA star James came to invest in the concept, and what impact hes had on the brand. thats never a bad thing if what you do is what you love. Rick is providing his distribution, marketing and agency connections. Long dominated by delivery and takeout players, the pizza industry is in the midst of a fast-casual revolution. "Hi, this is Elise Wetzel," the message read. This cookie is set by the provider Sonobi. The first Taco/Social opens this fall in Eagle Rock. This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. WebView FREE Public Profile & Reputation for Rick Wetzel in Pleasant View, TN - See Court Records | Photos | Address, Email & Phone Number | Personal Review | $200 - $249,999 Income & Net Worth Search by Name, Phone, Address, or Email in the franchise model and entering the Kuwait market with A year later, Blaze Pizza was born. "I want this to be an elevated experience and not just a fast casual place," he said. Rick studied marketing at the University of Tulsa and earned his MBA from the University of Southern California. "I wanted to create a homage to fried chicken, something that we can call our own," Chris said. has happened here has surpassed anyones expectations. (Spectrum News/Joseph Pimentel). kids. These cookies can only be read from the domain that it is set on so it will not track any data while browsing through another sites. More Court Records Reviews Contact & Personal Details Relatives & Associates Court & Arrest Records View All This section can be locked, requiring permission to view. And they all want to be the Chipotle of pizza. This cookie is used to measure the number and behavior of the visitors to the website anonymously. This cookie is passed to Hubspot on form submission and used when deduplicating contacts. This is used to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile. Wetzel: I sold my stake in 2007 to a private equity firm, Levine Leichtman, which paid eight figures for the business. It started with two California locations and has expanded to become one of the fastest-growing franchises in the U.S., with more than 340 restaurants in 41 states and five countries. Younger demographics are especially flocking toward dine-out options that give them the ability to try new things and build their own culinary masterpieces. He fell in love with the He says guests want to watch their meals being made, want to see it go in and out of the oven. WebIncluding endorsement payments, which will trigger in the near future on an undisclosed sales target, James' stake in the business is worth $35 million to $40 million, according to sources. Examples are True Food Kitchen, Shake Shack, and Granville, which has a great location on Lake Avenue, with some of Pasadenas best rooftop dining. Brad Kent, WebWetzel first learned to think about consumer behavior when she studied economics as an undergrad and earned her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, where she was part of the 28% Club, a tongue-in-cheek reference to the percentage of women students at Kellogg when she attended. because we love Blaze Pizza just as much as they do. This cookie is used to store information of how a user behaves on multiple websites. Opening its first location in St. Johns, Newfoundland and Labrador. Disneyland: The chain expanded quickly, and in 1997 Hollywood movie producer John Davis came in with $1 million raised from angel investors. This cookie is a session cookie version of the 'rud' cookie. in In May 2022, the company expanded to Atlantic Canada. The pair got excited and started mapping out a business plan that night at a bar. It was so clear to us that fast casual, in terms of a service system, is being adopted at an accelerating rate by many, many Americans, says Live Basils Ryan, who has watched as his better-burger concept, Smashburger, has grown to more than 200 units and nearly $200 million in sales since it launched in 2007. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. "We eat a lot of fried chicken," Wetzel said. PublicPrivate Court, Arrest or Criminal Records tables at The Avenues branch. that is made in-house with a secret recipe. The cookies is set by ownerIQ for the purpose of providing relevant advertisement. The cookie is set by StackAdapt used for advertisement purposes. This cookie is used by HubSpot to keep track of the visitors to the website. Everything Phelps wanted had already been taken. a lucky Google search, and when she approached him By Sean Hargadon. Most are focusing on a personal-sized, Neapolitan style of pizzacharacterized by a light, thin, flaky crustand offering a laid-back, modern dining room and beer and wine services. 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In one advertising class, I was part of a group charged with creating a campaign for the National Egg Commission. Its a much better experience than the traditional way, and I think everyone is going to have to adapt, says Samit Varma, cofounder and president of The Pizza Studio. Pizza, meanwhile, is in a sort of holding pattern. Upon opening the first Lucky Bird in 2018, Chris said he sought tips from chefs in his network to develop a recipe. Theres also 12 company-owned stores that employ 150 people. This cookie is set by .bidswitch.net. WebWetzels has a lot of white space. [13] As of February 2022, the company has 332 restaurants in North America, 16 of which are located in Canada and the rest in the United States, as well as 10 locations in the Middle East. WebElise has a reported annual income of $200 - 249,999 and a current net worth value of greater than $499,999. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. oven in our backyard. It's a lighter spin on it. Christine was shocked. The fast-casual pizza chain has been one of the fastest-growing concepts ever since, with close to 400 locations around the country. Wetzel: I sold my stake in 2007 to a private equity firm, Levine Leichtman, which paid eight figures for the business. Rick delegates tasks with ease and is quick to step in and offer guidance and expertise when necessary. tweaks to perfect their operations in Kuwait. But Wachter said he liked what he saw in the management team and was really impressed with the product. Wetzel: I came home one day and my wife was making pretzels out of a Betty Crocker cookbook. Writing, leadership resources, news, workshops and information on where you can connect with us. Now we have dining options close to home that are as good as the Arts District and Westside. The domain of this cookie is owned by Rocketfuel. This cookie is used to set a unique ID to the visitors, which allow third party advertisers to target the visitors with relevant advertisement up to 1 year. WebSerial entrepreneurs and spouses Elise and Rick Wetzel co-founded their Pasadena, California-based company in 2011 with a simple, if hardly unique, idea: Let's create the Chipotle of pizza. Lucky Bird has a new retro 1970s style logo of a white silhouette of a chicken in front of a multi-colored California sunset, which symbolizes "a lighter and brighter chicken," Wetzel said. okay, were not talking about pizza at home Rick told California Consumer Limit the Use of My Sensitive Personal Information, California Consumer Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Lucky Bird, a Grand Central Market stall, opens a second location and first brick-and-mortar in Eagle Rock, Founded by Chris Dane, Lucky Bird aims to elevate the fried chicken marketplace with a "California-inspired style" fried chicken, Lucky Bird is being backed by the co-founders of Wetzel's Pretzels and Blaze Pizza, Rick Wetzel likens Lucky Bird similar to high-quality eateries such as Mendocino Farms and Tender Greens. This cookie is set by the provider Yahoo. For updates and news follow them on Instagram @BlazePizzaME. that pizza as a concept is very translatable. The chain had grown to $33 million in sales and $1.55 AUV in 2014. Tupperware, some for sauce and cheese and then go We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. all are welcome. Entrepreneurs Rick and Elise Wetzel may have founded Wetzels Pretzels and Blaze Pizza, each of which has hundreds of locations, but the duo does not consider themselves to be restaurateurs. Andrew says he assembled an executive team with more than 50 combined years of franchise experiencea team including other former Moes execsand is using their expertise to sprint toward top-dog status in the fast-casual pizza space. team to create an experience that is enjoyed by everyone. "No one was doing it in the middle," Wetzel said. But I think that what I grew up eating it. The better-pizza executives all speak highly of one another and wish each other success, but just like with any other restaurant category, too many competitors in the same markets will leave someone out in the cold. Or, Whos going to be Five Guys, whos going to be Smashburger? The cookie is set by pubmatic.com for identifying the visitors' website or device from which they visit PubMatic's partners' website. price of entry in the market today, Rick quickly added. WebBut Blaze has quickly become a leader, with more than 320 national locations, a projected $400 million in sales this year, and plans for an IPO. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. In 1994, Rick co-founded Wetzels Pretzels with Bill Phelps and is now working with his wife and co-founder, Elise, on conquering the pizza industry with Blaze Pizza. To many people that might be You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Exeter, N.H., I think that just reflects the kind of flavor diversity that people are actually looking for these days.. WebEntrepreneurs Rick and Elise Wetzel may have founded Wetzels Pretzels and Blaze Pizza, each of which has hundreds of locations, but the duo does not consider themselves to be restaurateurs. Jul 15, 2019. [14] [15] Webelise and rick wetzel net worthdoes keegan allen have a child 26th February 2023 / in west warwick viewpoint / by / in west warwick viewpoint / by This cookie is set by the provider OpenX. Founded in 2011 by Elise and Rick Wetzel of Wetzel's Pretzels, Blaze Pizza was modeled after Chipotle's made-to-order approach to serving customers. It was a mid-2011 weekday, and the Wetzels Pretzels founders were enjoying their 17th year in the pretzel business, a year in which their concept would enjoy roughly $65 million in sales at 192 locations, according to Technomic estimates. We use this information in order to improve and customize your browsing experience and for analytics and metrics about our visitors both on this website and other media. Once they closed on the building in Eagle Rock, Wetzel said that his wife Elise began looking into all of the different fried chicken businesses and concepts before discovering a small stall at the Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles: Lucky Bird. Saw something missing in the Eagle Rock location, we can call our own, '' the read! Number and behavior of the visitors to the next level in St. Johns, Newfoundland and.! Bakes much quicker than traditional crusts I grew up eating it the dough for! 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