Love Blaze Pizza? The Central Coast is getting a sixth location
A sixth Blaze Pizza location is coming to the Central Coast this fall.
The restaurant will be located at 1168 W. Branch St. in Arroyo Grande, next to the Walmart in the Five Cities Center. The location, formerly a Payless Shoe Store, is expect to open in mid-to late October.
“People were asking us ‘When are you going to open a location closer to Pismo or Arroyo Grande?’ ” franchise co-owner Mitch Wolf said, adding that he feels the area is underserved. “This is a good opportunity to meet their needs.”
Wolf said that the Arroyo Grande location will likely hire 40 to 60 employees.
Wolf is one of four franchise partners who own all Blaze locations on the Central Coast. He also co-owned the Taco Bell locations in the area until 2007.
“What we like about Blaze is all the ingredients are made fresh daily and the pizza is cooked in 180 seconds,” Wolf said. “We liked the concept and are very excited about the future of the company.”
Blaze Pizza restaurants feature a choose-your-own style menu that allows diners to customize their own pizzas or pick a signature pie.
Currently, the partners own one Blaze Pizza location in San Luis Obispo, one in Paso Robles and two in Santa Maria. They’re opening a location in Lompoc on July 26, and plan to give away free pizza the following day to celebrate the opening.
The Arroyo Grande restaurant will be the fourth Blaze Pizza location that Wolf and his partners have opened in 2018.
Each Blaze Pizza location takes upwards of $300,000 to open, which Wolf said is dependent on how much work needs to be done prior to opening.
Blaze Pizza recently garnered attention thanks to a tweet by professional basketball player LeBron James, who owns roughly 10 percent of the company, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Blaze Pizza locations in Southern California celebrated the stakeholder signing with the Los Angeles Lakers by giving away free pizzas on July 10.
When James responded to the promotion via Twitter, fans lined up at the Culver City location in anticipation. However, James did not show up.
This story was originally published July 18, 2018 at 4:10 PM.