LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - Apr 23, 2014) - Blaze Fast-Fire'd Pizza, the leading fast-casual built-to-order artisanal pizza chain, today announced that it will soon be entering the Washington, D.C. area with three locations set to open over the next six months. The company's first D.C. area location will be in Westfield's Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, MD. Additional locations in College Park, MD (adjacent to the University of Maryland campus) and Laurel, MD (Town Center Shopping Center) are also set to open this year and will be announced soon.
Scheduled to open this summer, the new Blaze Pizza in Montgomery Mall (7101 Democracy Blvd.) will be located near The Cheesecake Factory and Bobby's Burger Palace. The 75+ seat restaurant, with its comfortably hip, urban design, will feature a 1900+ square foot dining room and an outdoor patio.
Blaze Pizza uses an interactive ordering format that allows guests to customize one of the menu's signature pizzas or create one of their own, choosing from a wide selection of fresh, artisanal ingredients -- all for under $8. The generously sized personal pizzas are then sent to a blazing hot open-flame oven -- the centerpiece of the restaurant -- where dedicated pizzasmiths ensure that the thin-crust pies are "fast-fire'd" in less than 180 seconds. Each restaurant makes its own dough from scratch using a recipe developed by critically-acclaimed Executive Chef Brad Kent ("The Pizza Whisperer"), which requires a 24-hour fermentation period to produce his signature light-as-air, crisp crust. For pizza fans with specific dietary needs, Blaze Pizza offers gluten-free dough and vegan cheese. The restaurant will also offer house-made S'more Pies and a selection of wine and craft beer.
"I am thrilled to have this opportunity to take the years I've spent developing my dough recipe and now bring it to a broader audience," says Chef Kent. "I am really looking forward to introducing the greater D.C. area to Blaze."
The Bethesda Blaze Pizza will be operated by AMPAL Group, a franchise group led by franchisee Amit Patel.
About Blaze Pizza
Founded in 2011 by Elise and Rick Wetzel (co-founder of Wetzel's Pretzels), the concept is backed by investors including LeBron James, Maria Shriver, Boston Red Sox co-owner Tom Werner and movie producer John Davis, and includes the talents of highly acclaimed Executive Chef Bradford Kent, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. Blaze Pizza currently operates restaurants in Southern California, Chicago, Indianapolis, Detroit and Milwaukee. The company, which has been featured by MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Good Morning America, has a pipeline of nearly 250 restaurants being developed by 24 seasoned multi-unit franchisees. This year, Blaze Pizza plans to expand into 20 new markets including San Francisco, New York, Boston, Dallas, Miami and Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.blazepizza.com or www.facebook.com/blazepizza.
Blaze Pizza, LLC
35 N. Lake Ave, Suite 710
Pasadena, CA 91101