Gatti's Pizza

Gatti’s Pizza
Private
Industry Food Wholesale
Founded Stephenville, Texas, USA (1964)
Headquarters Austin, Texas, USA
Key people

Colonel Johnny Ray Gattis (founder)
Michael J. Mr lik, II

(CEO)
Products Pizza Delivery, Salad bar, Pizza Buffet, Pizza Pickup, Family Entertainment
Website gattispizza.com

Gatti's Pizza (formerly Mr. Gatti's) is a Southeastern United States pizza-buffet chain. Gatti's Pizza, founded in 1964 is owned by Blue Sage Capital, a private equity investment firm.[1] The corporate offices are in Austin, Texas.[2]

History

In 1964, retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James R. Eure opened a pizza and hamburger restaurant in his hometown of Stephenville, Texas.[3] He and his wife moved to Austin, Texas; and in 1969, he opened a pizza restaurant in Austin under the name, "The Pizza Place." In order to identify themselves from the rest of the pizza places, Colonel Eure undertook a name contest. Colonel Eure's wife's maiden name was Gatti, which soon won out over many other proposed names and The Pizza Place was renamed Mr. Gatti's Pizza.[4]

In 1974, Eure sold his chain of 18 Mr. Gatti's restaurants to a group of investors, but held on to a few franchises. The investors worked with Colonel Eure in helping the company grow by establishing in Texas and many other states.[5] The chain has since changed hands a number of times.

By the 1980s, Mr. Gatti's took on a more modern look by adding a game room and a buffet bar into many of its restaurants.[4]

In the 1990s, Mr. Gatti's had expanded its game room concept (which at that time, the concept was titled "GattiLand") by adding more arcade games and bumper cars into most of its newer restaurants, with an orange-canopy entrance to the game room saying "Welcome to GattiLand - Family Fun & Games". Notable locations using this modified concept are two locations in Louisville, Kentucky,[6] Abilene, Texas,[7] and Spartanburg, South Carolina.,[8] Round Rock, Texas

In 1997, Mr. Gatti's created a new concept called "GattiTown". The first store to use this concept opened in the Oak Hill area of Austin that year.[9] The restaurant's design was patterned after Main Street, U.S.A., and was complete with a buffet, several dining and party rooms, and a Midway game room, which featured many arcade games plus a large carousel.

Gatti's Pizza located in Portsmouth, Ohio.

Today

Gatti's Pizza currently has more than 140 locations across the United States.[10] Some Gatti's Pizza locations are branded under the GattiTown name; these are based on the Family Entertainment Concept (FEC) with a larger physical footprint and a dedicated gaming and attraction based midway.[4] In 2004, Blue Sage Capital bought the chain.[1] Three years later in 2007, Blue Sage renamed Mr. Gatti's as Gatti's Pizza to reflect current trends.[5] In 2011, Blue Sage announced that they would construct four new super-sized Gatti's restaurants based on their GattiTown model. The new locations will be between 45,000 and 60,000 square feet. In addition, typical features will include bumpers cars, go karts, miniature golf, and miniature bowling. Those locations are based in Clearwater, Florida; El Paso, Texas; Lafayette, Louisiana; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Sugar Land, Texas. They are all expected to be open by late 2011. In addition, two former Gatti's Pizza restaurants are scheduled for renovation into smaller-sized variants of the GattiTown model in Corbin and Lexington, Kentucky. Completion of the renovations is expected by late 2014.[11]

Slogans

See also

References

Further reading

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