Blaze Pizza Rides Loyalty Tech to Beat Economic Headwinds

Blaze Pizza is on a mission to redefine fast-casual dining, one custom-built pie at a time.

The Atlanta-based chain, now boasting 300 restaurants across 38 states, has carved out a niche with its assembly-line model that lets guests build their own pizzas — choosing everything from crust to toppings — before their creation is fired in just 180 seconds. It’s a model reminiscent of Chipotle or Subway, but with a distinctly artisanal twist. With expansion plans for California, the Southeast U.S. and Middle East region of the globe, it’s riding a new loyalty program toward success in an economic environment that’s tougher than stale pizza dough.

Blaze’s latest expansion in Georgia is more than just a growth spurt, it’s a strategic blueprint for the brand’s future. With eight new locations planned across Fulton County, Beto Guajardo, Blaze Pizza’s CEO, sees the region as a testbed for scaling operations and brand awareness.

“The reality of an expansion of a new brand is that you want to be able to create enough economy of scale in the number of units that you have, so that you have consumer awareness and consumer trial,” he told PYMNTS recently. “The marketing dollars that you’re spending are having an effect on reaching consumers who have awareness of you. They’re going to consider you for trial or for repeat based on what it is that you’re offering.”

As Blaze grows, Guajardo is keenly aware of the economic pressures facing both consumers and mid-market restaurant operators. Despite rising costs and a value-conscious consumer, he sees Blaze’s positioning as a competitive advantage.

“We reside in that fast casual space. We’re not QSR and we’re not fine dining, we’re in the middle,” he said. “From a pricing perspective, we’re quite competitive with what you would see in a lot of QSR businesses. But what we offer is a customizable experience at Blaze speed with the level of hospitality that you won’t get out of a drive-thru window. And so, it’s an experience that you want to come back to.”

Guajardo believes Blaze’s menu, offering everything from gluten-free to vegan options, broadens its appeal, especially as consumers seek experiences that are both affordable and shareable.

Central to Blaze’s next phase is its new loyalty program, designed to reward both frequent and occasional guests without the friction of traditional app-based systems. Guajardo said the program rewards frequent customers, but is aimed more at the family that might come in once a quarter, but doesn’t want the hassle of constant app updates or logins. Blaze’s new loyalty program is tightly integrated with its point-of-sale system, enabling guests to earn and redeem rewards simply by tapping their card — no app required.

“We wanted to be able to show them the value and the convenience of a loyalty program that doesn’t require them to have to go through the rigmarole of making sure that they’ve got that app on their phone,” Guajardo said.

“It’s going to make it more seamless and it’s going to make consumers want to engage with it, which will allow us to promote to them more effectively. I know it sounds simple, but give the customer what they want, including in what you’re promoting.”

Payments technology is another pillar of Blaze’s operational strategy. The pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital and contactless payments, and Guajardo sees this as an opportunity to further streamline the guest experience. “Speed and convenience, right? Those are the luxuries that consumers are looking for today. And anything that slows you down or becomes inconvenient for you makes it an experience that you’re not necessarily gonna want to replicate,” he said.

Looking ahead, Guajardo is bullish on Blaze’s potential.

“With regards to how many stores is possible with this brand, I don’t think that it’s unreasonable, certainly within the United States, to think about doubling our footprint in the next five to seven years. I think that’s pretty reasonable to expect,” he said.

“We will be opening up here in Atlanta a store that will bring together all these operating changes, both from a technology perspective, from a labor operating model perspective, and even from a new store equipment perspective. It will allow us to make sure that we’re paying more attention to the guests while delivering the quality and the consistency that you expect when you come into a Blaze Pizza.”

If Blaze’s Georgia playbook proves successful, the fast-casual pizza space may soon need to make room for a much larger, and even faster, competitor.