Of the two chains targeting the Dayton area, MOD Pizza is farther along in its development efforts. It has entered into an agreement with a franchise partner, Lexington, Ky.-based Cool Dough Development, which is already scouting out locations in the area.
“We’re looking at Centerville, Englewood, the UD area, Kettering … we’re looking all over the Dayton area,” said Garyen Denning, managing partner of Cool Dough Development. “We intend to have one or two locations open in 2016.”
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Plans call for opening 10 MOD locations in the Cincinnati-Dayton region, which Denning said includes Springfield. But beyond the initial stores for next year, there is no rigid time frame for completing the expansion. “We want to grow smart,” Denning said.
Cool Dough Development also has the franchise rights to Kentucky and southern Indiana, and intends to open 20 overall within the footprint, with three to five in the Dayton area, Denning said. The company currently operates 11 Raising Cane’s restaurants in Kentucky and South Carolina with three more under construction.
MOD Pizza restaurants serve salads, milkshakes, craft beers and wine. By the end of this year, MOD expects to have about 100 stores in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Pizzafire has opened restaurants in recent weeks in Cleveland and Akron, will open four or five more in northeast Ohio before the end of the year, and is looking for a franchisee or franchisees in the Dayton-Cincinnati region, according to Ryan Rao, Pizzafire’s director of franchise sales. The chain was founded by Sean Brauser, the founder of Romeo’s Pizza. Romeo’s operates 34 locations in Ohio, and previously had franchise-owned pizza carryouts in Beavercreek and Kettering that operated briefly before closing in 2012.
“We see the Cincinnati and Dayton region as a growth market for us,” Rao said of the new Pizzafire chain. “We’re building out our markets to a critical mass in a short period of time.”
Rao said Pizzafire’s goal is to open 100 units in five years, including about 10 in the Dayton-Cincinnati region.
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