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Building brands: Pie Five's CEO shares strategies

Pie Five's parent company, Rave Restaurant Group, is looking to build and expand the concepts under the brand.

From left: Pie Five COO Chris Smith, District Manager Alex Zepeda and CEO Randy Gier

May 7, 2015 by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com

Randy Gier may be the CEO of Pizza Inn and Pie Five, but the restaurant-industry veteran isn’t only interested in pizza. In fact, he was instrumental in changing the holding company’s name from Pizza Inn Holdings to the Rave Restaurant Group. He said the move better reflects his vision of creating other innovative fast casual concepts that will entice customers to “rave” about their food.

“Our goal is to be a world class, multi-branded restaurant operating company,” Gier said. “We have two brands today, but as we grow, we plan to build a portfolio of solid brands, primarily in fast casual."

While Gier is searching for his next fast casual concept, he’s still growing both pizza chains. He took over as CEO two years ago and has taken Pie Fie from six units to 46 and plans to have 100 open by the end of the year. There are an additional 400 units already in development, and Pizza Inn has more than 250 locations. It will continue to see openings in smaller markets.

The right leaders

Gier attributes part of the brands’ growth to his leadership team, which includes Chris Smith, SVP of Operations, who is best known for helping Chipotle grow from a few locations to dominating the fast casual industry. Rave’s CFO is Tim Mullany, who was once the CFO of Smashburger, and Gier even hired the creator of Pizza Hut’s stuffed crust pizza, Patti Scheibmeir, as his VP of R&D and Product Innovations.

“The restaurant business is not an easy business.  And, it’s not for everyone.  We’ve tried to recruit and develop talent that truly thrives in our unique environment," Gier said. "In order to gain momentum and set ourselves up for long-term success, we've stacked the deck with proven talent - leaders with the right cultural values to fit at RAVE, who thrive in the restaurant industry, and also have the experience to make the right decisions quickly.”

The right franchisees

Carefully selecting franchise partners is the other secret to Gier’s success.

“Show me a great restaurant, and I’ll show you a great restaurant operator,” said Gier, who prefers to work only with existing franchisees. “Many people are in love with the idea of owning a restaurants but, the reality of running a restaurant is not so glamorous. To maximize the success of our brands, we want franchisees who have lived the challenges and been successful. We don’t have time to train rookies or weed through amateurs.” 

Gier believes keeping his franchisees profitable is the best way to grow his brands.

“Results are a great motivator," he said. "When business is growing and making money, you want to build more."

There’s more to it than just monetary success, however.

“We all want to make a difference. Our franchisees were attracted to our brand because they fell in love with the concept and saw customer reaction to the brand,” he said. “We hope to continue to inspire our franchisees by keeping our brands relevant, so that the customer passion stays strong. Our franchisees are the face of our brands in their communities. At the end of the day, it’s that smile on our customers’ faces that gets us up in the morning.” 

About Cherryh Cansler

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Cherryh Cansler is VP of Events for Networld Media Group and publisher of FastCasual.com. She has been covering the restaurant industry since 2012. Her byline has appeared in Forbes, The Kansas City Star and American Fitness magazine, among many others.

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