Near Atlanta’s Georgia Tech campus in 1974, three recent college graduates—Rocky Reeves, Mike Nicholson and Marc Weinstein—who shared a pizza passion (and several years of restaurant experience) joined forces to open Mellow Mushroom.
“Paired with a post-grad mentality fueled by a hunger to create something new, they banded together,” recounts Anne Mejia, senior VP of brand development. “Very soon after opening, Mellow Mushroom had a cult following, with lines out the door.”
The vision for Mellow Mushroom was simple, but not easy to execute: Create a unique, memorable dining experience with one-of-a-kind decor at each location, hosted by “Shroom Crew” members who foster a friendly, come-as-you-are vibe. Now, 50 years later, that cult following has only grown, with the brand (appropriately for its fungal namesake) spawning 163 locations in 17 states, slinging stone-baked pizzas amid trippy, hippie-tinged backdrops.
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Since its first franchising in the early 1980s, the founding trio established relationships with local artists, who added unique murals and other artistic flourishes to restaurants and menus, ensuring no location feels cookie-cutter.
Recently, Mellow Mushroom underwent a massive company-wide rebrand, with a refreshed logo and signage, newly designed menus, personalized website and user experiences, revamped retail items and uniforms, and a coming-soon counter-service prototype location in Atlanta.
“There have been some big brand milestones over the years,” Mejia says. “The most recent changes have been driven by technology. We’ve seen a big uptick in off-premise sales, fueled by our own online ordering platform, third-party, and still a sizable amount of phone-in orders. Pre-pandemic, we moved from a deck oven to a conveyor oven, and that has allowed us to expand our business.”
While customers love thoughtful touches like dietary restriction-friendly menu items, craft beers, cocktails and mocktails, and psychedelic artwork, the brand is also beloved for its heart. Sustainability practices include eco-friendly, recycled-material pizza boxes with a negative carbon footprint and reusable steel kegs. Meanwhile, the brand selects a few national charities to partner with each year, while individual franchisees give back within their communities through prolific pizza donations.
Ultimately, Mellow Mushroom’s success comes down to maintaining its original mission—a winning combination of, Mejia says, “our focus on food quality, the people and the culture, the enduring popularity of pizza, and providing that Mellow Mushroom experience.”
