— By Katie Lee —
Mountain Mike’s Pizza, a Newport Beach, California-based family-style pizza chain for more than 45 years, continues to scale the heights toward the peak of franchise success.
Born out of the Bay Area in 1978, Mountain Mike’s Pizza started franchising in 1981 and grew steadily and regionally over the ensuing decades. More recently, Chris Britt and Ed St. Geme, former multi-unit Burger King franchisees and Stanford alumni who frequented the chain in college, came along and shook things up. In 2017, the pair acquired the company and made strategic leadership hires in 2018, including Jim Metevier as president and chief operating officer and Carol DeNembo as vice president of marketing — both of whom remain with the brand today as CEO and CMO, respectively. In the 6 years since the acquisition, the team has elevated Mountain Mike’s Pizza from a little-known regional brand to a coast-to-coast national powerhouse, achieving record-setting sales milestones and unprecedented unit growth along the way.
In February of this year, Metevier was promoted to the top leadership post.
“Jim’s elevation to CEO is a natural milepost for the Mountain Mike’s Pizza brand, as he’s already proven himself to be an integral part of our success and growth over the last 5-plus years,” says Britt, principal owner and co-chairman. “We have the utmost confidence he will continue to help maintain our steep growth trajectory.”
The climb may be steep, but in Metevier, the company has found its footing and a clear path forward.
“Under Jim’s leadership as president and COO, Mountain Mike’s thrived in every aspect,” says DeNembo. “From brand loyalty and recognition to sales and franchise growth, the climb with Jim at the helm has been truly remarkable for our legacy brand. [He] set the overall brand strategy, fostered strong franchisee relationships and oversaw all aspects of the brand’s operations including marketing, operations, development, supply chain, menu innovation, technology and franchise business development — driving franchisee sales growth, franchisee profitability and expansion of our restaurant’s geographic footprint.”
Currently, Mountain Mike’s is open in eight states, with nearly 290 restaurants in operation and a robust development pipeline.
“Jim’s successful tenure as president and COO fueled his recent appointment to CEO, where he will continue to execute on his vision of building Mountain Mike’s Pizza into a beloved nationwide pizza chain,” adds St. Geme, principal owner and co-chairman. “He remains focused on strengthening the brand in new and existing markets, reinforcing a community-first culture, enhancing support tools for its growing network of franchisees and thoughtfully expanding Mountain Mike’s Pizza across the U.S.”
Throughout his tenure, Metevier oversaw the brand’s operational systems and processes, restaurant excellence and overall guest experience, and brand marketing and development — all critical functions that fueled profitability and franchise sales growth. Under his leadership, the brand increased same store sales by 32% over the past 5 years, total system sales by 83% and surpassed $1.1 million in systemwide AUV, with the top 10% of stores reaching $1.8 million and the top 25% recording $1.6 million. In addition, system sales across digital platforms (mobile web, mobile app and third party) continuously rose and now account for 44% of Mountain Mike’s systemwide sales — a noticeable spike since the pandemic years.
“2020 taught us to be nimble and reinforced that we were already on the right path,” Metevier says. “During the pandemic, we focused on what makes Mountain Mike’s stand out in the already crowded pizza space — quality food, premium guest experience and community support — and communicated that value loudly and clearly. We increased our level of support and communication with our franchisees to ensure their success, and highlighted product innovation. Thankfully, we implemented third-party delivery and extensive targeted digital advertising strategies before the pandemic, so we had systems in place when we needed them the most. Although dine-in took a brief hiatus during those times, it has always been a cornerstone of our brand and will continue to be even as the industry moves to a digital-focused world. We feel confident in our ability to balance digital and dine-in to ensure guests can have a premium Mountain Mike’s experience, however they prefer it.”
For its physical locations, Mountain Mike’s ideal square footage is between 2,400 and 3,000 square feet, but it can operate in a variety of footprints ranging from 1,600 to 5,500 square feet. Restaurant size depends upon the trade area and community needs.
Since Mountain Mike’s builds both inline and end-cap spaces, each location is unique. “We adhere to core adjacency rules and ergonomic flow best practices to design the most efficient back-of-house layout,” Metevier says. “These principles help us optimize space and enhance operational flow, ensuring each location performs at its best.”
In April, Mountain Mike’s Pizza announced its first restaurants east of the Mississippi River as the brand makes plans to enter its 10th state. A pair of three-unit development deals will soon introduce Mountain Mike’s to Wisconsin, in Milwaukee and Green Bay. The first location, in Green Bay, is expected to open by early next year.
“Following the tremendous success we experienced last year, which included significant expansion in new and existing states, these Wisconsin agreements strengthen our industry standing as a national pizza powerhouse that’s well-positioned for even more growth,” says Britt. “Anyone who perceives Mountain Mike’s Pizza as a regional player can no longer accept that as reality.”
Mountain Mike’s has built its reputation on exceptional product quality and a distinct focus on communities and families. While it offers delivery and carry out, it prides itself on being a destination for sports fans, communities and families to dine, share and celebrate life’s big moments together.
The brand has also built upon its existing sports partnerships, adding another major player to the roster of high-profile teams it sponsors when the brand became the Official Pizza Partner of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings basketball team last year. With existing partnerships with the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers and MLB’s Los Angeles Angels, Mountain Mike’s effectively activated all three major sports sponsorships with numerous awareness opportunities, including in-stadium, in-market and in-community activations with each team to reach new guests and elevate brand affinity and its reputation among sports fans.
“In existing markets, we’re fortunate to have a strong reputation that attracts our key customers, while in new markets we have the chance to introduce that family and community-oriented reputation to a new area,” says Metevier. “We’ve found that in new and existing markets, our guests find our pizza to evoke nostalgic flavors from their childhood — ‘Pizza the Way It Oughta Be®,’ as we call it!”
In May, Mountain Mike’s Pizza continued to expand its development pipeline in Washington state. The brand finalized a three-unit agreement that will introduce Mountain Mike’s Pizza to Southern Washington’s greater Vancouver area. This deal expands upon a 10-unit agreement that spans Northwestern Washington and the greater Seattle area.
Mountain Mike’s is also significantly broadening its Texas footprint with three multi-unit development deals in Austin, Houston and the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The agreements will bring five restaurants to Austin — a new market for the growing pizza chain — and three units each to the Greater Houston and Dallas areas, growing the brand’s presence to nearly 40 restaurants open or under development in the Lone Star State.
Today, Mountain Mike’s has ongoing development in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, and now Washington, Wisconsin and Texas.
Mountain Mike’s 2024 growth plans build upon its enormous development success last year as well. In 2023 — also Mountain Mike’s 45th anniversary — the brand opened 15 new units, including highly anticipated debuts in Texas, Colorado and Los Angeles County, with more than 60 units added to its pipeline.
“2023 reinforced our position as a pizza brand on the rise,” says Britt.
Now with plans to open more than 30 restaurants in 2024, the brand is on track to surpass the 300-unit milestone before the end of this year and expects to reach the 400-unit milestone by the end of 2026 — which would mark a 120% increase in restaurants since 2017, the same year Mountain Mike’s was acquired by Britt and St. Geme. (It’s also notable that, while it took 40 years for Mountain Mike’s to reach 175 units, it only took 5 years under this team’s leadership to add another 100-plus units.)
“Our long term goal is to establish ourselves as a national player, capitalizing on the significant growth opportunities available,” Metevier says. “In the short term, our primary goal is to ensure the complete success of our franchisees, from the initial opening through the entirety of their operations. The more successful and supported our franchisees are, the more we can grow Mountain Mike’s Pizza into a true national powerhouse.
“I love helping franchisees reach their dreams of entrepreneurial ownership. It’s a unique and special opportunity to help a franchisee create a legacy that they can leave for future generations.”
— This article originally published as the cover story of the September 2024 issue of Retail & Restaurant Facility Business magazine. If your retail or restaurant company has a story to tell and would like to be profiled in an upcoming issue, please email the editor, Katie Lee, at [email protected].