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Pizza Inn Holdings Inc. hopes investors will RAVE about new name

Pizza Inn Holdings Inc., the parent company of Pie Five Pizza Co. and Pizza Inn, has announced that it is changing its name to RAVE Restaurant Group Inc., reflecting the company's transition to a multi-brand group.

January 8, 2015 by Brenda Rick Smith — Editor, Networld Media Group

Pizza Inn Holdings Inc. is hoping its new name will give investors something to RAVE about.

Pizza Inn Holdings Inc., the parent company of Pie Five Pizza Co. and Pizza Inn, has announced that it is changing its name to RAVE Restaurant Group Inc.

The new name and a new "RAVE" trading symbol will be reflected on NASDAQ on Jan. 9.

While the brand names for Pie Five and Pizza Inn won't change, CEO Randy Gier says the name change is needed to reflect the parent company's transition from a single-brand to a multi-brand group.

"Our new name, RAVE Restaurant Group, is a better reflection of our transformation," said CEO Randy Gier.  "We are no longer a slow growth, single-brand restaurant company.  We have high expectations for ourselves and our brands."

Gier is hoping the name change signals to investors the company's new trajectory as a multi-brand, high-growth company. RAVE is hoping to raise cash to fund its growth, and is looking for investors to buy in to their vision.

The vision is built around the continued revitalization and growth of the company's two current brands, Pizza Inn and Pie Five Pizza Co.

Pizza Inn

The company started with Pizza Inn, a buffet-style restaurant, which was founded in 1958 in Dallas. Today, the brand operates more than 250 restaurants domestically and internationally with several new stores scheduled to open in the next year.

Pizza Inn has undergone a turnaround in recent years, and has now recorded three consecutive quarters of comparable sales growth. Preliminary results for Q2 2015 show a comparable store sales increased of 6.4 percent year over year. It's the best performance the brand has had in years, says Gier.

"What's got Pizza Inn on fire is we're getting the basics right," says Gier. Pizza Inn has updated sauce and toppings, retrained employees on how to make dough, he says, which has led to repeat visits to stores. "Food is first. We've got to have raveable, cravable, comeback food."

The company has also realigned marketing efforts for greater coordination, and operations and franchisees are working together closely to develop standards and training that aimed at strengthening the quality push.

"We've finally got this brand operating as one brand again, going in one direction, not 280 different snowflakes, each one unique and different," says Gier. He hopes to be in the not positive range for new Pizza Inn store opens in 2015.

Pie Five Pizza Co.

Pie Five Pizza Co. also got its start in Dallas, in 2011. Pie Five currently has 31 locations in nine states (Florida, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia) with more than 400 company-owned and franchise units anticipated in 16 states and Washington, DC.

Gier's goal is to see Pie Five leading the fast casual pizza segment. The brand should more than double its footprint to around 60 to 70 stores in the first half of 2015.

"And there's no reason we can't continue at that kind of pace," says Gier, adding 30 - 40 units to close out 2015.

System-wide retail sales, which includes franchise and Company-owned restaurants, increased 118 percent year over year in preliminary results for Q2 2015. The increase was driven by an 64 percent increase in average units open and a 31 percent increase in the system-wide average weekly sales, according to a press release issued by RAVE.  Comparable store sales, which in the second fiscal quarter of 2015 represented only company-owned restaurants, increased 16.9 percent. 

About Brenda Rick Smith

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Brenda has more than 20 years of experience as a marketing and public relations professional. She invested most of her career telling the story of entrepreneurial non-profit organizations, particularly through social media.

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