A beloved pizza brand—one that evokes memories of pizza buffets, arcade games and childhood birthday parties for generations of customers—is entering another new chapter in its 60-plus-year history.
Entrepreneur and longtime franchisee G. Brint Ryan has acquired the remaining ownership interest in Mr Gatti’s, making him the primary owner of the Texas-based pizza and family entertainment brand. At the same time, CEO Jim Phillips is preparing to retire after more than a decade with the company.
Phillips will remain CEO during a transition period, with his successor to be named later.
Ryan, founder and chairman of Dallas-based tax services firm Ryan LLC, had already become a major investor in Mr Gatti’s. Earlier this year, his family office, OneRyan Global, acquired a controlling interest in the franchisor. OneRyan also owns Mr Gatti’s restaurants, and its acquisition of a corporate-owned Austin location last year completed the chain’s transition to a fully franchised system.
“Jim has led one of the most impressive transformations in our brand’s history,” Ryan said. “His leadership established a strong financial foundation, built an outstanding executive team and created a culture that puts franchisees first.”
Ryan said he and his wife, Amanda, plan to continue investing in the brand and supporting its franchisees.
For Mr Gatti’s, survival itself is something of an accomplishment. At its peak, the chain became a fixture in communities throughout Texas and other parts of the South, where many customers came as much for the experience as for the pizza.
The company traces its beginnings to 1964, when founder James Eure opened The Pizza Place in Stephenville, Texas. Eure moved the business to Austin in 1969 and renamed it Mr Gatti’s Pizza as a tribute to his wife’s maiden name.
The company grew rapidly during the 1970s and later expanded its family entertainment model with the GattiTown concept, combining pizza and buffets with large game rooms and other attractions. For plenty of customers who grew up in the 1970s and even into the 1990s, that combination made Mr Gatti’s a destination rather than simply somewhere to pick up dinner. Birthday parties, all-you-can-eat pizza and hours spent feeding tokens into arcade machines became part of the brand’s identity.
But like a number of once-prominent regional restaurant chains, Mr Gatti’s eventually lost ground. Its footprint shrank substantially over the years, and in January 2019, then-owner Sovrano LLC and several affiliated companies, including Mr Gatti’s entities, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Texas.
But the brand didn’t fade away. Instead, Mr Gatti’s began mounting what has gradually turned into a comeback effort. Under Phillips and the ownership group that acquired the company in 2015, Mr Gatti’s worked to standardize franchise agreements, rebuild its marketing program, restore some of the chain’s original recipes and emphasize what it calls a “food-first” approach. The company also brought back annual franchise conventions, updated its branding and store formats and expanded franchisee support.
Franchise development accelerated after 2020. The company reported selling development rights for 23 locations in 2020, another 25 in 2021 and 24 in 2022. By early 2023, Mr Gatti’s said it had more than 130 restaurants open or under development across 12 states, including plans to return to markets it had previously exited.
Then came the company’s biggest expansion deal yet.
In 2024, Mr Gatti’s announced an agreement to develop 92 restaurants inside Walmart stores in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Kentucky. The smaller-format locations were designed to introduce the brand to new customers while also putting the Mr Gatti’s name back in front of people who remembered it from decades earlier.
The company has continued pursuing traditional family entertainment centers as well. Earlier this year, Mr Gatti’s announced a push for additional locations in the Houston market. At the time, it said more than 230 restaurants were open or planned across its system.
According to the company’s latest announcement, Mr Gatti’s has increased its restaurant footprint by 50% during Phillips’ tenure, expanded from three states to 12 and nearly doubled systemwide revenue over the past five years.
“Leading Mr Gatti’s over the past 11 years has been one of the great privileges of my career,” Phillips said. “Together with our franchisees and leadership team, we’ve strengthened every part of this business.”
Ryan now inherits a brand with something most comeback attempts can’t manufacture: decades of familiarity and goodwill among customers who remember Mr Gatti’s from childhood. The challenge will be turning those memories into new visits—and introducing Mr Gatti’s to a younger generation that has no memories of it at all.
