Since its founding more than 40 years ago, California-based “mountain-sized pizza” chain Mountain Mike’s Pizza has been limited to the Western states, even as it approaches a whopping 300 total locations. As the brand continues to grow, it’s finally preparing to make its debut on the East Coast, now that a 10-unit deal has been signed to bring locations to the Orlando, Tampa, and Sarasota markets.
Behind the move are multi-brand operators Sean Morrison, CEO of BizBox Restaurant Group, and Ned Algeo, founder of Multipli Capital. The duo have already built experience bringing 3Natives to the Orlando market.
“I was seeing a lot of great real estate available that was too big for the 3Natives concept, and I thought we should look into something that could occupy these other spaces,” Sean Morrison told What Now on Saturday. After BizBox and Algeo’s Multipli joined forces, he said, the pair of entrepreneurs started discussing pizza concepts. “I grew up in Southern California, and we both love Mountain Mike’s Pizza; it was our favorite brand, so the light bulb went on. We asked, and they said they had ambitions to be in the southeast.”
Morrison says the product was the original impetus behind signing on with the Mountain Mike’s concept. The menu features pizzas ranging from the jam-packed Pepperoni to Specialty varieties like Spicy Himalayan Pizza (Loaded with flavorful Tikka Masala marinated chicken, mushrooms, onions and spicy jalapenos, mozzarella cheese, then topped with fresh cilantro on our Tikka Masala sauce), the Mt. Veggiemore (A Vegetarian Landmark! Loads of mushrooms, black olives, bell peppers, artichoke hearts and sliced fresh tomatoes on classic red sauce), and the Pineapple Chicken Luau (A tropical treat! Grilled chicken, crispy bacon and juicy pineapple on KC Masterpiece®BBQ sauce).
The other factor was the company itself. “Mountain Mike’s has a really strong team. They’re one-hundred-percent franchised, so they’re one-hundred-percent focused on franchisee support.”
The plan in Tampa Bay is to have one location up and running and more in works by the end of next year, Morrison said. So stay tuned—Mountain Mike’s will be making its Tampa Bay debut before long.
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