By Charlie Pogacar
When pizzeria operators weigh whether or not they should expand, they arrive at a fork in the road. To franchise or not to franchise? That is the question.
Franchising brings advantages and disadvantages. Many brands opt for franchising over corporate growth because, in theory, a franchisee will bring the passion and work ethic to grow the brand in a market they know well. That’s the mindset of Mike Burns, CEO with &pizza, who announced in March that his brand would begin franchising.
“We feel like with franchising, whoever opens up Charlotte or Savannah, Georgia, or Baton Rouge—or [wherever]—will live and breathe those markets and know those neighborhoods way better than we [do],” Burns told PMQ Pizza in March. “We really want the person that’s operating those restaurants living in [that city]… It just doesn’t have the same feel [if we send someone from D.C.].”
Burns will be part of a four-person panel on franchising at the upcoming Pizza Power Forum, held at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis from September 2 through 4. Over the past year, PMQ has chatted with three of the four speakers who will be featured on the franchising panel: Burns, Carl Comeaux, CEO of Crust Pizza Co., and Michael LaMarca, CEO of Master Pizza in Cleveland and captain of PMQ’s U.S. Pizza Team.
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(Editor’s note: The fourth member of the panel, Erica Barrett, founder and owner of Dough Boy Pizza Co., will bring her own unique perspective to the panel. You can read more about Barrett and her impressive brand here.)
Here’s a preview of the thought leadership that Burns, Comeaux and LaMarca will bring to the stage at the Pizza Power Forum. Their experiences differ in scale and style, but the lessons they’ve learned are deeply relevant to any operator wondering: Could we turn our brand into something bigger?
Mike Burns: We Should Be Bigger
When Mike Burns took over as CEO of &pizza, the East Coast-based fast-casual pizza brand had been around for over a decade but was still hovering under 50 units. “It’s a shame to have 45 restaurants on the ground,” Burns said. “We should have 10 times that.”
Franchising wasn’t just a strategy—it was the only realistic way to meet the company’s internal goal of 250–300 locations by 2030. But instead of racing to sell off units, Burns and his team spent two years laying groundwork: simplifying operations, eliminating deep discounts, overhauling their tech stack and retooling their pizzas to travel better in a post-COVID world where delivery dominates.
“We believe fast-casual pizza is dead—in its old form,” Burns said. “The new version has to prioritize off-premise experience, operational efficiency, and brand voice.”
Franchisees, he said, need to match the brand’s eccentric voice. And Burns is looking for operators who live in and understand the communities they’ll serve. “For us, it’s a long-term play. We’re not trying to franchise fast—we’re trying to franchise right.”
That means strict criteria: no absentee landlords or check-writers. Prospective franchisees should already have operating experience, ideally running a few restaurants—and must be ready to grow alongside the brand.
Recently, &pizza announced its first franchisee: entrepreneur Isaiah Williams, who has deep ties to the Washington, D.C. community. To start, Williams will be taking over three of &pizza’s locations in Washington D.C.
“We’re looking more from a cultural fit than we are from a high-level restaurateur standpoint,” Burns said, “but [for] somebody that knows the brand, likes the brand, feels comfortable on a college campus, can play in the arena that we play in.”
Carl Comeaux: The Modern Neighborhood Pizza Brand
Crust Pizza Co. may not have &pizza’s national ambitions, but its strategy is just as intentional. “We’re debt-free, with no private equity,” said CEO Carl Comeaux. “So we don’t need to sell 50 units a year. We’re happy opening 25 stores annually if they’re the right ones.”
Based in Texas and Louisiana, Crust takes inspiration from the dine-in nostalgia of 1990s Pizza Hut—Crust’s stores feature real plates, warm lighting, wine nights and patios with turf for kids to run around. But the concept has been streamlined for scalability: menu items have been cut in half, while the brand moved to two pizza sizes instead of five and developed an operations model that blends fast-casual with full service.
“Limited service lets us deliver that dine-in experience with fewer staff,” Comeaux explained. “And our tip pool—shared by runners, dishwashers, and pizza makers—helps us attract and retain quality employees.”
With 27 locations and more on the way, Comeaux emphasizes that culture and process matter more than raw growth. That includes being selective—only 5% of franchising leads are approved—and having a system in place when things don’t go as planned.
“We developed a management agreement where we can step in and run the store if a franchisee isn’t performing,” Comeaux said. “We’ll pay off their loan and convert the unit to corporate. That protects the brand and keeps the ecosystem strong.”
Crust is also building its own tech stack in-house—a lesson Comeaux carried over from a previous concept, Main Squeeze Juice Co.—to allow faster, data-driven decision-making for franchisees.
Michael LaMarca: Start Small, Think Long-Term
For Michael LaMarca, franchising is about trust, patience and a lot of late-night learning. LaMarca took over Master Pizza—originally a well-known franchised brand that had shrunk to a single location—in 2000. A dozen years later, he began laying the groundwork to grow again. But first, he had to test the model.
“I opened a second store myself just to make sure the first wasn’t a unicorn,” LaMarca said. “I had to prove the system worked before asking others to buy in.”
What followed was years of quiet legal battles, trademark acquisition and business model refinement. “I didn’t have $250 an hour for an IP lawyer,” LaMarca joked. “So I taught myself a lot of it.”
Today, Master Pizza has 13 stores and two franchisee groups—small enough to be nimble, large enough to prove the model works. The group operates more like a cooperative than a traditional top-down franchise.
“We value their experience and input,” LaMarca said. “We’re texting daily, working on operations together. It’s not just me handing them a manual. We’re building this as a team.”
His advice to others considering franchising: don’t rush. Get your insurance policies in order, secure your name, dial in your cost of goods, and understand that your role will fundamentally change.
“You’re not just a pizza company anymore—you’re a franchising company,” LaMarca said. “That’s a big difference.”
Key Takeaways for Aspiring Franchisors
Across the board, the advice from these three operators comes down to clarity, control, and care. Here are some of the lessons that surfaced again and again:
- Test the concept yourself. Burns and LaMarca both stress opening company-owned units before bringing in franchisees. “I want to make the mistakes so they don’t have to,” LaMarca said.
- Simplify to scale. From dough-making to menu sizes to oven specs, standardization is key. As Burns put it, “We sell basically one SKU with different stuff on it.”
- Vet your partners. Whether it’s through strict approval processes or selective territory sales, all three leaders emphasize that a bad franchisee is more than a bad bet—it’s a brand risk.
- Invest in support systems. Whether it’s Crust’s fallback management agreement, &pizza’s retention of company stores for testing, or Master Pizza’s hands-on franchisee collaboration, smart franchisors think beyond the initial sale.
- Know when to let go. “You can’t assume the brand carries itself,” LaMarca said. “Every new store has to earn its reputation.”
As these three operators prove, there’s no one-size-fits-all path to franchising success—but there is one constant: you have to care as much about your partners’ success as your own.
Charlie Pogacar is PMQ’s senior editor. Want to learn more? Join us in Atlanta this September for the Pizza Power Forum, where this conversation continues.
