News

MOD Pizza opens first franchised location

September 10, 2014

MOD Pizza will open its first Denver location Thursday at 8225 S. Chester St., Centennial. The restaurant is the 20th in the MOD system and also its first franchised location.  

Industry veterans Bob Merullo, Kevin Embree and Scott Schooler will own and operate the Denver store through one of MOD's first development agreements. This is the first of several MOD stores slated for the Denver market in the coming year, according to a news release.

Merullo was the chief concept officer at Red Robin International where he led operations, marketing and purchasing for 330 company and franchised restaurants. Along with Embree, they formed Mach Robin and developed Red Robin's largest franchise group, operating as many as 34 restaurants across the US and Canada. Embree brings 25 years of experience as CFO of several real estate and restaurant companies including Mach Robin and Red Robin Canada. Schooler will join them as COO. He was the VP of food and beverage at Red Robin International, where he spent more than 20 years in operations.

"We are very excited to announce our opening in Denver – our first MOD in the mountain region," CEO Scott Svenson said in the release. "Bob, Kevin, Scott and their team bring a proven track record of building successful brands, combined with a shared commitment to build something very special. Given our focus on culture, we couldn't be more proud to have them open our first franchised location. As we continue our rapid pace of store openings, we will continue to identify additional market partners that are interested in growing with us across the US."

MOD currently operates 19 company-owned stores in Washington, Oregon, California and Arizona, with 30-plus stores slated to be open across eight markets by the end of 2014.