Update: Has Fast Casual Been Perfected

Pie Five: Fast Casual Piefection

     While doing research on Pie Five I stumbled upon a few of their competitors, the main one being Blaze Pizza. I immediately started looking for excuses to visit any of their locations so that I could draw comparisons between the two. I just so happened to be traveling through Columbus, Ohio which which conveniently had a Blaze Pizza that was not too far out of the way. But before we start comparing the two lets talk about the ingredients that make a good fast casual restaurant so that you can see where Blaze is failing and Pie Five is succeeding. 

     Number One is good location, in short the store should be located in a high traffic area that contains your targeted demographic (the people you are trying to sell your product to). Number Two is the stores layout/format, it must be conducive to efficiently moving as many customers through the point of sale while maintaining positive customer experience. In a close Third is fantastic product w/ quality ingredients, it helps create the buzz to come visit and the memorable experience to come back again and again. In Fourth we have friendly and knowledgeable employees. This contributes to the overall experience and if passed over can contribute to losing your customers to the eerily similar chain across the street. And last but certainly not least, a fair price for the quality of food you are selling. Your restaurant could have the best food in the world but if it is priced too high you might lose tons of customers.
     While I can not speak about all locations I have been to one Pie Five and one Blaze Pizza. Pie Five was in an okay location just off a main strip and a major highway exit. Blaze Pizza was right across the street from one of the largest college campuses in the world. Picking from the two locations I would definitely chose Blaze, Blaze- 1 Pie Five- 0.
     The format of the stores were similar in the sense that they had quick lines that both ended by the fountain drinks, cool outlets to charge via USB, and easily accessible cafe style seating. But Blaze lost, while this wasn't the case (unfortunately for them), if very busy their line would have directly interfered with people trying to get drinks from the soda fountain. It would also make for awkward who is going which way interactions with other customers while trying to move towards the line. I also thought the giant gas fired pizza oven was a bit much. It required a single person to be able to track multiple pizzas at the same time throughout the entire day, if he isn't paying attention a pizza could be over or under cooked ruining the customer experience. Pie Five's traditional conveyor pizza oven ensures uniform cooking for all pizzas.  Along with not having a state of the art bathroom like Pie Five they were missing witty decorations to add that smile to their experience that might get them back. Blaze- 1 Pie Five- 1.
     I attempted to get the same pizza at both locations and while the Blaze pizza was larger I thought the Pie Five pizza was slightly better in taste and quality. Blaze only had 1 style of crust besides their gluten free option, Pie Five has 4. The toppings including sauces were similar but at first glance the ingredients at Pie Five had a slightly more premium look. And my favorite part, Pie Five used way more cheese. Oh, and they offer to sprinkle your pizza with "magic dust" right before you check out. Win for Pie Five, Blaze- 1 Pie Five- 2.
     While the customer service was not horrible it was not the gold standard of "Starbucks" customer service. Comparatively the wait to start eating my pizza was much longer than Pie Five, which boasts a pizza in five minutes or less. The assembly process of my pizza at Pie Five even seemed to be more carefully constructed. And while waiting at the cashier for my finished product I had a pleasant conversation with the "magic dust" lady and cashier. Blaze- 1 Pie Five- 3.
     And what causes the most confusion for me for these "Chipotle" style fast casual restaurants is the price, and how they turn a profit off of these premium products. Bottom line Pie Five is roughly 46 cents cheaper, Blaze $7.45 and Pie Five $6.99. The premium product at an affordable price is evident at both but Pie Five wins. Blaze- 1 and Pie Five- 4.
     With many premium locations already taken up by the likes of Panera, Chipotle, and Starbucks it will be difficult for either to find footholds, but not impossible. If Pie Five keeps the wins and ups their game in choosing locations they will easily edge out competitors. 

Has Fast Casual Been Perfected?

Pie Five: Fast Casual Piefection

     "You have got to try Pie Five" said Kelina, "What is that?" I said with a grumpy attitude after a long day of work. With an enthusiastic attitude she said "It's this new pizza place over by Panera that you can get a customized personal pizza in five minutes!", I fired back with "you would love that place". Cue a death stare from Kelina. The next day she dragged me to Pie Five to try out this new "phenomenon", I was admittedly quite skeptic. I had no idea what I was getting myself into...

Two Custom Creations

     Yes that is some pizza from Pie Five, and yes it was done in 5 minutes, it is quite shocking how fast you can get pizza here, good pizza at that! But before we go any further you can get that pizza for $6.99, yes, for under $8 tax included you can get gourmet pizza. But wait...with literally any number of toppings you want (we'll get into how they make money later). To back track a bit here is what they offer: 4 types of crust including gluten free for an extra charge, 4 cheeses, 7 sauces, 8 meats including meat balls and giant pepperoni slices, and 16 different types of veggies roma tomatoes, 3 different olives, red & green peppers, mushrooms, red onions, marinated artichoke hearts, and sun dried tomatoes to name a few. Besides the 10 different types of house pizzas you can order a personal pizza about a million different ways, which if you got different ingredients every day would last you about 2700 years without repeating a choice...talk about variety! Long story short their pizza is amazing.
     Got it, the product is amazing, what about the rest of the place? Well, I am so glad you asked. If you could perfect a store format for fast casual I think Pie Five has found it. An easy line to navigate with menus you can take with you down the line to order ingredients. A few feet away after a quick check out is a "freestyle" coke machine with over 100 choices. Next you have enough comfortable

seating to have a chat over your pizza, some even have outdoor seating to enjoy your pie under the sky. But don't stress there are outlets near most of the seating so you can charge your phone while you eat. But What if you forgot your wall charger? Well they have USB outlets too, yeah USB outlets. Did you try too many coke flavors or get greasy hands from the pizza? Oh no worries, there is a state of the art bathroom. In reality the toilet is just a toilet, but the sink, my god! Auto water, auto soap, and auto super duper jet dryer that blows the excess water off your hands and down into the sink. The restaurant is an attempt to target a younger crowd; attempts at consciously sourcing food, witty decorations recyclable pizza boxes, no paper towels in the bathroom, USB outlets, freestyle coke

machines, oh, well, and delicious pizza. To top it all off they have a rewards program that gives you a free pizza every 20 points with 10 points to start and 2 points per every regular priced pizza or salad that you buy.
     Immediately upon ending my meal with Kelina I enthusiastically said "Damn that was good" followed up by a calm and serious "I need to find out if they are public". Long story short Pie Five is not a public company, they are however wholly owned by RAVE Restaurant Group that also operates the Pizza Inn brand which is a chain that franchises over 300 stores worldwide. Rave also franchises 55 Pie Fives in the U.S. in 15 states and Washington D.C. the first one opening in 2011 in Fort Worth, Texas. Now would it be a good investment? No, at least not right now. First they are extremely small, with a market cap of about $120 million they are a micro cap. They also don't seem to be growing that much since the inception of Pie Five. Revenue is down $1 million and Net Income is down $2.93 million (215%) since the Pie Five debut. Their assets, specifically property/plant/equipment, are growing but with a franchise business I can't give you an  honest assessment of why that is. Lastly I have serious reservations about how their franchisees' make money, with premium ingredients and only a price of $6.99 their business model can't be anything other than getting as many people through the line as possible. After all their main selling point is a good pizza in less than five minutes. While RAVE has been public since 1994 their flagship product "Pie Five" is quite young and small as they only have 55 stores since 2011. I would seriously keep an eye on this company and their Pie Five product. This restaurant has the potential to have Chipotle like success. Oh yeah and they have dessert pizzas! But don't take my word for it, do your own research and get a pizza!