Blaze Fast Fire'd Pizza has announced an agreement with Millennial Restaurant Group for the development of 30 restaurants in Florida, Tennessee and Kentucky in the US.
With the latest agreement, Blaze Pizza's 'build-your-own pizza' concept now has deals with 23 franchise partners, with commitments to develop 240 restaurants in 19 states and Washington DC in the next three to five years.
Millennial Restaurant Group is jointly controlled by former NBA player Ulysses 'Junior' Bridgeman and restaurant veteran Jim Patterson.
Currently, Blaze Pizza, which has ten restaurants in California and the Midwest, plans to further open 45 new branches in key markets across the country in 2014.
These new restaurants will be a combination of franchisee-owned and company-owned units.
Patterson, the founder of Rally's Hamburgers and Long John's Silvers, is the owner of 40 Wendy's restaurants. Wayne Albritton, former CEO of Rally's Hamburgers, will be the franchise group's managing partner.
Bridgeman, ranked the fifth largest franchisee in the country, is the owner/operator of 125 Chili's and 195 Wendy's restaurants.
Bridgeman said, "We've already seen the successful development of burgers, burritos and sandwiches into a fast-casual format. Similarly, we believe that fast-casual pizza, and Blaze Pizza in particular, will be huge."
Blaze Pizza is an independent company, registered to sell franchises in all 50 states, and is currently expanding nationwide.
