MOD Pizza is an American fast-casual pizza

restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate many retail markets, dining markets, and service categories in many pa ...

based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington. Founded in 2008, MOD has more than 460 locations in the United States and two locations in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Concept and products

The company's name is an

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

which stands for "Made on Demand." MOD Pizza operates as a build-your-own style restaurant, where the food is made in front of the customer on-demand. Interior_of_a_MOD_Pizza_restaurant

History

MOD Pizza was established in 2008 in Seattle, Washington, by co-founders Scott and Ally Svenson. The Svensons previously founded the Seattle Coffee Company, a coffee company based in the United Kingdom, which they sold to

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

in 1998. Afterwards, Scott stayed on as president of Starbucks Europe. The Svensons also helped found Carluccio's Ltd., an Italian restaurant in the U.K. After moving back to their home town of

Bellevue, Washington Bellevue ( ) is a city in the Eastside (King County, Washington), Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, located across Lake Washington from Seattle. It is the third-largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area, and the f ...

, the Svensons started MOD Pizza after being unable to find fast, affordable healthy meals for their four sons. James Markham, who had previously started pizza parlors in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

and

Shanghai, China Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, was also a part of the founding team and helped develop the house recipes used by MOD. The restaurant's first location was in Union Square and was followed by additional Seattle locations. By 2010, Markham had left MOD Pizza due to what he later characterized as a dispute in direction with the Svensons. He subsequently started a California-based chain set on MOD's "DIY" pizza concept called

Pieology Pieology Pizzeria is a Tustin, California-based pizza chain within the fast-casual dining restaurants category. Founded in 2011 by Carl Chang, the brother of former tennis player Michael Chang, Pieology's mission is to "turn one of America's fa ...

Growth and expansion

In 2013, the restaurant chain was named one of the United States' "Top 50 Breakout Brands" by ''

Nation's Restaurant News ''Nation's Restaurant News'' (''NRN'') is an American trade publication, founded in 1967. NRN covers the foodservice industry, including restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Me ...

''. By 2014, MOD Pizza had 31 locations in Washington,

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, and

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. The same year the company secured $15 million in private investment. In 2015, MOD Pizza raised $40 million in new funding for a total of $70 million in investment capital to fund an aggressive national growth strategy. The main investor was the

private equity fund A private equity fund (abbreviated as PE fund) is a collective investment scheme used for making investments in various equity (and to a lesser extent debt) securities according to one of the investment strategies associated with private equity. ...

PWP Growth Equity. MOD's growth is also accelerated by the addition of several franchise partnerships. The business reached the 1,700-employee milestone in August 2015. In March 2016, MOD Pizza announced that they had secured $32 million in a funding round and had plans to expand to 190 stores. In June, the company opened their first international location in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, United Kingdom. Additional expansion in the United Kingdom with joint venture partner Sir Charles Dunstone and his business partner, Roger Taylor, began in 2015. MOD named John Nelson, formerly of Nando's, Ltd. (U.K.), as their CEO of U.K. operations in January 2016. MOD Pizza closed all nine UK locations in 2020. In its tenth year of business, MOD announced the opening of its 300th location in 2018.

Closures and acquisitions

On January 9, 2024 It was announced that founder Scott Svenson would be stepping down to a new role as Executive Chairperson, and Beth Scott, previously of Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurants would take over as CEO. In April 2024, MOD Pizza abruptly shuttered 27 restaurants permanently as part of mass downsizing. In July 2024, rumors circulated of a potential

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

filing, though this never occurred. By this time, the company had closed 44 restaurants. The company blamed closures on declining sales caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and rising interest costs as part of the decision. A spokesperson said the closed stores were experiencing "sustained under-performance" and "were closed due to unfavorable lease and site decisions made during a period of rapid expansion prior to the pandemic". On July 10, 2024, MOD reached an agreement to sell itself to Elite Restaurant Group. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

References

External links