IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Blaze Pizza, the build-your-own pizza chain that cooks its product in about three minutes, last Monday officially opened a restaurant in Palm Springs.
About 50 people attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by the Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce, said Amy Blaisdell, spokeswoman for the city.
The restaurant, at 201 N. Palm Canyon Drive, employs about 50 people full and part-time has indoor and outdoor seating for 128 patrons, said Joe Stein, the restaurant’s franchisee.
“It’s in the heart of downtown where there’s a lot of excitement,” said Stein, a Laguna Niguel resident who owns eight Blaze Pizza restaurants, seven of which are in the Inland Empire. “We’re a ‘fast-casual’ chain, so we’re going to give people one more option when they decide where they want to eat.”
Based in Pasadena, Blaze Pizza was founded in 2011 by Elise and Rick Wetzel, founders of Wetzel’s Pretzels. Basketball superstar LeBron James was one of the company’s original investors.
Blaze Pizza was named the fastest-growing pizza chain the United States in the 2016 Technomic Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report.
“It’s going to be great for Palm Springs,” Blaisdell said of the new restaurant, which is within the city’s downtown revitalization project. “We’re looking forward to it being a major success.”
