Assembly-Line Pizza: The Next Chipotle?
A Chipotle burrito is sort of a staple nowadays, especially among the college crowd, so it makes sense that other restaurants are adopting the assembly-line, personalized trend.
The best place to make this work? Pizza joints, of course. That's not to say that personalized, two-minute pizzas aren't already a staple in the college diet (has anyone ever eaten at the dining halls? It's not a new trend), but investors like Maria Shriver, Tom Werner (Boston Red Sox co-owner), and Panda Express founder Andrew Cherng have reportedly dropped $3 million into the next fast-casual, assembly line joint: Blaze Pizza.
Bloomberg reports that Blaze is slated to be the next Chipotle, with $6.85 pizzas that are made fresh via assembly line, dropped into an 800-degree oven, and baked in 120 seconds. "It's Chipotle for pizza," co-founder Rick Wetzel told Bloomberg, noting that while Blaze only has two locations in California, it plans to have 15 stores by the end of 2013, expanding to Chicago and New York.
Next up, we're thinking assembly-line sushi. Someone better get on it.