Blaze Pizza

Blaze Pizza is a fast-casual pizza chain built around the assembly-line customization model — allowing customers to build their own artisan pizza from dozens of sauce, cheese, protein, and vegetable topping options, with each pizza cooked in a high-temperature open-flame oven in approximately 180 seconds. Founded in 2011 in Los Angeles by Rick and Elise Wetzel (founders of Wetzel's Pretzels), Blaze Pizza pioneered the fast-casual pizza format (now called "pizza-by-the-slice" customization QSR) and grew to 300+ locations in the US and internationally, with LeBron James as a notable early investor and brand ambassador.\n\nBlaze Pizza's menu centers on 11-inch personal pizzas at approximately $9-12 made with housemade dough (including a gluten-free option), signature sauces (red, white, pesto), and unlimited toppings. The speed (180 seconds in a 800°F oven) and customization create an experience positioned between traditional pizza delivery (30-45 minutes) and a sit-down restaurant — providing fresh, made-to-order pizza with the convenience of fast food. The brand also offers salads and s'mores pies for dessert.\n\nIn 2025, Blaze Pizza competes in the fast-casual pizza market with MOD Pizza (similar assembly-line model, restructured in 2023-2024), &pizza, and traditional pizza chains including Domino's and Pizza Hut for pizza dining occasions. The fast-casual pizza category that Blaze helped create faced significant headwinds in 2022-2024 as food costs increased and the customization model proved operationally complex at scale — MOD Pizza, the largest fast-casual pizza chain, went through significant store closures. Blaze's 2025 strategy focuses on franchise growth (particularly in international markets), menu innovation to drive repeat visits, and digital ordering expansion through the Blaze Rewards app and third-party delivery.