Sally’s Apizza, one of the most famous spots for New Haven-style apizza in the country, has big plans for growth in the coming years. With the backing of Lineage Hospitality, an investment conglomerate, the brand aims to open 225 locations in 12 states, kicking off the expansion in 2026.
In fact, Christian Bonaventura, the company’s brand advisor, has said, “Sally’s ambition is to be the Chipotle of pizza. What does that mean? That means being the highest quality culinary product in its category at a 1,000-location scale.”
The company recently announced its expansion goals, including:
- Texas: 45 locations
- Florida: 35 locations
- New York: 25 locations
- New Jersey: 25 locations
- Pennsylvania: 20 locations
- Maryland: 15 locations
- Connecticut: 15 locations
- Massachusetts: 15 locations
- North Carolina: 15
- South Carolina: 15
- Georgia: 15
Sally’s Apizza wouldn’t be the first company angling for the “Chipotle of pizza” title. Fast-casual chains like MOD Pizza and Blaze Pizza had similar aspirations, but both have struggled in recent years owing in part to a decline in lunchtime traffic as more Americans work remotely.
Sally’s is a member of New Haven’s so-called “holy trinity” of apizza restaurants, along with Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, which has been celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and Modern Apizza. Since 2006 Frank Pepe has expanded to 17 locations in seven states, while Sally’s has grown to seven stores, including one in Massachusetts that opened in 2023.
If it sounds like an “ah-beetz” rivalry is heating up after nearly a century of friendly cohabitation in New Haven, Kevin Gagliardi, VP of operations at Frank Pepe, recently suggested otherwise in a comment to the Connecticut Post.
“Sally’s is family to us,” Gagliardi said. “They’ve been a great neighbor over all the years. We wish them nothing but the best in their expansion.”
In fact, Frank Pepe’s and Sally’s are blood kin, in a sense. Salvatore “Sally” Consiglio, a nephew of Frank Pepe himself, founded Sally’s Apizza in 1938 after learning the pizza making craft from his uncle. For the better part of a century, Sally’s remained a single-unit hometown shop in New Haven until the Consiglio family sold it to Lineage Hospitality and expansion began in 2021. Initially, the growth was focused on Connecticut, but Sally’s opened its first out-of-state restaurant in Massachusetts in 2023.
With both Sally’s and Frank Pepe eyeing multistate growth, where does that leave Modern Apizza? Bill Pustari, owner of the latter New Haven pizza institution, seems to be content with a single-unit operation. And, speaking to the Connecticut Post, he expressed doubts about Sally’s corporate-sized scaling plans.
“To do 250 stores coming up soon, you just kind of are throwing stuff at a wall and seeing if it sticks, I guess,” he said. “I could be totally wrong, and these guys could be super successful and the richest people around. But I don’t feel like I missed out.”
Construction of the first New York State location of Sally’s Apizza—in Roosevelt Field—is slated to start next year. There are three locations already under construction in Norwalk and Newington, Connecticut, and in Boston Seaport, Massachusetts. In 2026, construction is expected to start in the following cities:
- Cranston, RI
- Concord, MA
- Weymouth, MA
- South Windsor, CT
- Roosevelt Field, NY
- Danbury, CT
- Foxwoods Casino, CT
- Boca Raton, FL
Sally’s has a long list of celebrity fans dating back to at least the 1960s, from John F. Kennedy to Frank Sinatra and Paul Newman, and, more recently, Conan O’Brien, Gordon Ramsay, Pete Davidson and Rainn Wilson of The Office fame.
