By Charlie Pogacar

A cheese pizza from PIE.ZAA in Asheville, North Carolina, retails for $44. The four other pies regularly featured on the menu cost $49 each. If those prices seem high, consider this: Each pie is a 28” behemoth fit for a group of five to seven people. According to founder/owner Tyler Kotch, PIE.ZAA’s pies are actually 20% cheaper per square inch than what is offered by rival pizzerias.

“We always say that you’re going to leave with your stomach and wallet full,” Kotch said, noting that diners can come in and nab a slice and a drink for under $10. And that slice will go a long way toward quenching any appetite.

Prior to 2019, Kotch hadn’t spent a single day in the pizza industry. He had worked for over a decade in marketing and then medical consulting. When he decided to leave the industry and start his own pizza business, he knew he’d have to create something that made his business unique in Asheville’s crowded culinary scene.

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“I basically said, ‘Okay, I don’t know much about pizza,’” Kotch said. “‘But if we make it big and substantial, as long as it’s edible, we can market it and people will come in and at least try it.’”

As Kotch tells it, he got lucky along the way. He hired an industry consultant to help formulate a dough recipe. The dough turned out to be, in his words, “absolutely delicious.” In fact, it’s so good that the company went out and trademarked its signature phrase, “What It Dough,” a nod to the high standard of quality PIE.ZAA has for its scratch-made dough and sauces.

“If you don’t have good dough, you can’t have good pizza,” Kotch said. “And if you have good dough, you’re going to have good pizza. It’s really as simple as that.”

Kotch believes PIE.ZAA has been successful due to the simplicity of the operation. There are just five regularly featured pies on the menu, with an additional rotating special. There are three dipping sauces to choose from, a rotating beer list, and a handful of options for dessert. Notably, the menu has no gluten-free or vegan options. Diners are not permitted to make substitutions. The only customization PIE.ZAA really allows for is splitting two of the signature pies half-and-half.

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“I was never in the restaurant industry,” Kotch said. “When you enter it, though, you quickly learn just how particular people are. If you put this big massive menu in front of them, they are going to have a difficult time deciding what they want. I think that’s part of the reason why a lot of restaurant businesses really don’t make any money. We simplify our model to take advantage of the high volume we see at our store. That, and making everything from scratch every day, leaves us with very little food waste, and that keeps us profitable.”

Those monster-sized pies have another advantage: In an ongoing contest, customers who can put away a whole 28″ pie in 28 minutes won’t have to pay a dime for it. That offer recently attracted competitive eater, model and YouTube personality Raina Huang, who scarfed the entire pizza down in 24 minutes and 15 seconds. A video of her achievement (below) has garnered more than 86,000 views since it went up on YouTube on June 30.

Thanks to its success, PIE.ZAA is set to open a second location, this one in Charlotte, North Carolina. Kotch sees the opportunity to expand the brand into another high-volume locale: the Queen City’s South End.

“We have been spoiled with the volume we do in Asheville,” Kotch said. “When you open up a new spot you want it to be doing as well or better than your previous location, so I knew we had to find a centralized, iconic spot. When you look at what other businesses are doing in Charlotte, it was kind of a no-brainer that we’d be able to go there and do volume and get the cash flow necessary to increasingly grow our brand.”

Since launching PIE.ZAA, Kotch has been inundated with franchising inquiries. While he’s put those contacts on the back burner, he says it’s nice to know it’s an option if he chooses to go that route in the future. He also may continue to open corporately owned locations in Asheville, Charlotte and other markets. For now, he’s focused on opening his second location, where the people of Charlotte can expect enormous pizzas sure to fill their stomachs for years to come.

“We’re seeking to be a late-night option for everyone going out and having some beers,” Kotch said. “We’re really passionate about creating a great environment where employees and customers enjoy themselves. We like to curate a really good energy in our space, and people tend to come and wanna hang out here and eat some pizza.”

Charlie Pogacar is PMQ’s senior editor.