"Take-and-bake pizza is becoming a hot commodity in Southwest Florida, one that could help create as many as 250 jobs in the next three to five years," according to News-Press.com.

"Papa Murphy’s International has plans to develop 19 franchise stores from Punta Gorda to Naples, and will open three stores in the Fort Myers-Lee County area by the end of 2012.

The stores make the pizzas to order, but buyers bake them at home.

“We want to keep our brand alive,” said Mark Levis, director of franchise sales for the eastern region of Papa Murphy’s International. “To put one or three or four stores and then wait a few years, that doesn’t really do the brand much good.”

The company, headquartered in Vancouver, Wash., evolved out of the Pacific Northwest and has gained traction with consumers in the Midwest and Western U.S. — many of whom travel south to Florida for the winter months and are already fans of the brand, he said."