Your Pie Celebrates 7th Anniversary

We couldn’t have made it seven years without such a great Your Pie family! Our guests, team members, vendors, and communities drive us to help you craft the best pizza in the world. 

-Sincerely, Drew French (Your Pie Founder)

Happy 7th Anniversary from all of us at Your Pie!

Your Pie in The Journal Record

Your Pie was featured in The Journal Record. Your Pie will be opening the very first location in the state of Oklahoma with local owners Darren Buck and Jason Martin. The two are cousins and now business partners. Their family is connected to the restaurant business through their grandmother, whose picture will hang in their first location since it was always her dream to own her own restaurant. Your Pie plans to grow more in Oklahoma now shipping logistics have been figured out.

Read the full article here. 

Your Pie on ABC 9 Columbus

We were featured on ABC 9 Columbus. On Saturday, March 14, 2015, Your Pie celebrated the mathematical equation of Pi by discounting pizzas for Pi(e) Day 2015. Find out more about this mathematical day and check out Your Pie in the segment.

Watch the segment here. 

Your Pie in Pizza Marketplace

We were featured in Pizza Marketplace. The fast casual pizza industry is booming, and Your Pie was there from the start as the originator of the segment. But while some down-the-line pizza brands are putting growth first, Your Pie is growing smart with the right operators and without sacrificing their product or the experience.  Your Pie Founder Drew French and Your Pie VP of Development Ken Caldwell discuss about the origins of the concept and how they are leading the brand forward with plans to expand across the nation.

Read the full article here. 

Your Pie in the Phoenix Business Journal

We were featured in the Phoenix Business Journal. Your Pie is coming to Arizona. The brand signed to open a new restaurant in the Scottsdale area and has plans to continue growing throughout the greater Phoenix area. Your Pie Founder Drew French talks about the unique experience that sets Your Pie apart from their competition in the down-the-line, fast casual pizza space. The brand has experienced growth over the last few years, and the plans for accelerated growth moving forward, as well as the incredible growth the entire fast casual pizza industry has seen according to data from Technomic. Your Pie Franchisees Andrew and Thang Vo discussed their goal of becoming entrepreneurs and how after looking at various concepts in the fast casual pizza space, Your Pie made the most sense to them.

Read the full article here. 

Your Pie in Grayson Local

We were featured in the Grayson Local. Your Pie franchisees Andrew Williams and Ross Bradley recently celebrated the three month anniversary of their restaurant in Snellville, GA. To celebrate their success as one of the busiest locations in the franchise system, the duo hosted a Customer Appreciation Day and ribbon cutting ceremony.

Read the full article here. 

Your Pie in Franchise Times

We were featured in Franchise Times. On the heels of slumping sales across the globe, McDonald’s is looking for ways to enhance their image with the coveted Millennial segment. Franchise Times Assistant Editor Tom Kaiser polled some Millennial members of the franchise community, including Your Pie Founder Drew French, who says he’s interested to see what McDonald’s rolls out and how it fares with customers. Drew also describes his dream burger as part of a companion piece.

Read the full article here. 

Your Pie Perimeter is Now Open

We’re so excited to announce our new Your Pie Perimeter location is now open! Our Perimeter location is located at 123 Perimeter Center West, Suite 200 in Atlanta! Like all of our locations you’re sure to find hand-tossed pizzas made with the freshest ingredients any way you would like, paninis, chopped salads and gelatos. As well as a variety of craft beers that pair well with your favorite pie.

We’re committed to providing great-tasting pizza to everyone. That’s why all of our locations offer gluten-free dough, Vegan (Non-Dairy) Cheese, and Non-Dairy Sorbet. 

Stop in and create the pizza of your dreams today.

Your Pie in The Oconee Enterprise

We were featured in the Oconee Enterprise. Todd Strickland, owner of the Your Pie in Watkinsville was featured in The Oconee Enterprise, that talks about how he decided to leave his corporate job to take over one of his favorite spots for pizza. Todd and his wife Rhonda are looking to offer a place where they can give back to the local community and work with the local schools. With more and more people looking for meals at a discount, Strickland switched over to a one-price model to give customers a better value and to streamline the ordering process at his location.

Your Pie now has 14 locations in Georgia with the 15th opening next weekend in Atlanta. The brand is continuing to expand in major markets across the country with signings in Chicago, Houston, Virginia Beach, Richmond, and Oklahoma City.

Read the full article here.

Your Pie in the Wall Street Journal

We were featured in the Wall Street Journal. Find out how Your Pie is experiencing sales success as the price at the pump drops. Gas prices have been steadily falling through the end of 2014 and have dipped below $2 a gallon in some markets in early 2015. This has created a positive ripple effect being felt across the economy, specifically in the retail and restaurant sector. Wall Street Journal Reporter Nick Timiraos spoke with David Barr, Chairman of the Board for Your Pie and KFC franchisee, about how the extra cash in consumers’ pockets is correlating to higher sales at Your Pie and in his KFC restaurants.

Read the full article here.

Your Pie in Inside Business

We were featured in Inside Business. This was an in-depth article, giving great coverage to Your Pie coming to the Hampton Roads, Virginia area. For the story, the reporter talked to Your Pie founder Drew French and Jeff Rhoades, a Your Pie franchisee. The story also discussed Jeff’s background: from working in sports, to hotel sales, to medical sales, and now opening his own Your Pie pizzerias.

Read the full article here.

Your Pie in the Special Franchise Focus Section of the Wall Street Journal

Your Pie in the Special Franchise Focus Section ofthe Wall Street Journal

We were featured in the Special Franchise Focus Section of the Wall Street Journal.  In an article focused on brands targeting millennials, Drew French, founder of Your Pie, talks about the Your Pie concept, its differentiators, the brand’s growth and success, and explained how Your Pie markets millennials by promoting menu customization.

Franchisee Andrew Williams talks about how the Your Pie ordering process lets customers have a new experience every visit. 

Your Pie in Franchise Times

The article in Franchise Time mentions how Your Pie plans to remodel 16 existing store to implement a new chopped salad station and open six stores with new equipment. Drew mentioned the cost to upgrade the existing stores for each new store to add the station that will be launched June 1^st. Drew was quoted on the new salad program will make Your Pie offerings more dynamic.


You can read the full article here. 

Your Pie in Tampa Bay Business Journal

Your Pie was recently featured in the Tampa Bay Business Journal in an article titled, "With New Backing, Your Pie Pursues Tampa Bay." The article discusses the growth and expansion plans of the custom pizza franchise in the Tampa Bay market as well as the overall growth plans with the new financial backing of private equity firm Georgia Oak Partners. The overall goal for development is to have 100 Your Pie restaurants by the end of 2015.

Check out the article here.

With new backing, Your Pie pursues Tampa Bay

Margaret Cashill

Staff Writer- Tampa Bay Business Journal

Owners of build-your-own pizza chain Your Pie have plans to expand rapidly in Tampa Bay during the next few years.

Now, an undisclosed investment from private equity firm Georgia Oak Partners has furthered Your Pie’s efforts to grow, Nation’s Restaurant News reported.

Your Pie, based in Athens, Ga., has 18 locations in Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Florida, including a restaurant at 2219 South Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa.

In July, CEO Bucky Cook told TBBJ he expects to add a second Tampa Bay location in the next year, and he intends to add another 25 locations in area in the next five to seven years.

Since closing the deal with Georgia Oak this summer, Your Pie has condensed that time frame to two to four years, Cook said.


Four of Your Pie’s locations are company-owned and 14, including the Tampa restaurant, are owned by franchisees.

To continue reading, click here.

Your Pie featured in Nation's Restaurant News

Your Pie was featured in Nation's Restaurant News in an article titled, "Your Pie eyes growth in Southeast." Founder, Drew French and partner at Georgia Oak, David Barr, were both interviewed discussing the growth plans throughout the Southeast and the plans to have a total of 100 restaurants in the next two years. The article shares the potential of the brand in the industry and the type of franchise partners that Your Pie is currently seeking out.

See the whole article online here.

Your Pie eyes growth in Southeast

After investment, the fast-casual pizza chain aims to open 100 units in two years

Oct. 18, 2013 

Mark Brandau

The chain received an undisclosed investment from Atlanta-based private-equity firm Georgia Oak Partners

Drew French might have been among the first restaurateurs to start the burgeoning fast-casual pizza segment when he opened Your Pie in Athens, Ga., in 2008 at age 24. But long before that, he was developing the concept of customized individual pizzas made quickly — mostly because he was not fond of sharing his favorite anchovy-and-black-olive pizza as a kid.

Now, as the sector heats up, with developing fast-casual pizza brands like Solos, Live Basil and Pie Five, French is not as keen on sharing franchisees or customers with fellow upstarts as he is with leading the category.

“Before there was any other competition, the goal was to be a globally admired brand,” French said. 

“Everybody loves pizza, so it made sense to me that Your Pie would scale, not just out of Athens but across the nation.”

In August, as Your Pie opened its 18th location, one big admirer did come calling: Atlanta-based private-equity firm Georgia Oak Partners. The firm’s undisclosed investment in Your Pie Franchising was intended to bolster the brand’s infrastructure and capital for growing to 100 units in two years.

French remains involved in Your Pie as a franchisee of three restaurants, and the company’s chief executive, Bucky Cook, also runs one location as a franchisee. The brand also brought in Ken Caldwell as vice president of development to oversee the new growth push.

“We realized that if we really want to take it to the next level, we’ll need the capital to do it, and our experience would only take us so far,” French said. “In the first conversations I had with David [Barr, a director at Georgia Oak], we knew it would be a good fit. I felt like it was time to invest in the company and make a move to build our infrastructure and give us the ability to scale faster.”

Georgia Oak was not the first private-equity firm to do its due diligence on Your Pie, French said, but the firm made the right partner because it understood that French wanted to expand Your Pie meticulously outward from the Southeast.

“What drew us to the segment was fast casual in a broad sense,” said Barr, who leads Georgia Oak’s restaurant, retail and consumer division. “Consumers are reacting to controlling their dining experience and customization. Then we looked at pizza, and Your Pie intrigued us because they were the first, and they are the largest. Other chains boast about how many units they have in the pipeline, but Your Pie is the largest.”

Upon meeting with French and Cook, Georgia Oak quickly was assured that the restaurant brand and the investors were aligned on how the system should continue to grow organically and contiguously in the Southeast.

French reiterated that Your Pie’s internal goal is to have 100 units open by the end of 2015. The target markets are Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Nashville, Tenn.; Charleston, S.C.; Tampa, Fla.; and Birmingham, Ala.

To continue reading, click here. 

Franchisee Spotlight: Paul and Michael Childers, Savannah, Georgia

Meet our Savannah Your Pie franchisees, Paul and Michael Childers! 

How did you learn about the brand?

Paul: I was in the furniture industry and when things got real bad in 2008 or 2009, I had to make the decision to sell the business.  A friend of mine and I kicked around and did some bone fishing, which was fun, but hit a point where I had to start thinking of paying the bills.  An accountant friend of ours had a daughter who was going to the University of Georgia and kept raving about this place called Your Pie and this cool concept out of Athens.  We love pizza and we knew what was going on with places like Chipotle and Moe’s, so we knew if someone could put that interesting twist on pizza, which is such a wide favorite, we knew it would take off.  We also thought the healthy options available made it attractive to customers.  Mike and I went to Athens and met Drew and Bucky.  We believed in it, so hopped on board and opened the downtown location.  Once that got going we opened the one in Sandfly.

Michael: I graduated from Georgia Southern and got a job with a firm in Savannah doing logistics.  I did that and my dad and I started looking into the Your Pie concept idea and did the trips to Athens to check it out and took time off to look in to it.  We opened the store in November 2010 and in early 2011, I decided to leave my job and focus on growing the business and opening our 2^nd store.

What are your expansion or development plans? What is your end goal with Your Pie?

Paul: It’s always a possibility that we’ll grow.  We grew pretty quickly into the second store, so we’re trying to settle in and make sure things are working smoothly and people are happy.  We’ll take a look at it again down the road.

Are you involved with any charities or do any community outreach with your business?

Michael: We’ve both lived in Savannah for the majority of our lives.  My dad grew up here, moved away and came back.  I’ve lived here for my entire life.  So we love giving back to our hometown community.  We tie in with a ton of local groups and do charity nights where we give a percentage of sales back to the group.  We’ve done them for local baseball teams, schools in the area, organizations and any good cause that needs a boost.

Do you have any hobbies, pastimes, and passions outside of work?

Paul: I golf and love to fly fish, bone fish, and go salt water fishing.

Michael: I do any kind of fishing in the Savannah area too, and boating too.  Really, anything out on the water.

Franchisee Spotlight: Clay and Debi Huckaby, Watkinsville, Georgia

Clay and Debi Huckaby met in college while attending Georgia Southern.  After graduation, Clay started a career in governmental affairs while Debi began a career in printing.  The two still maintain jobs in those fields while running their two Your Pie locations.  Clay, a lifelong foodie, always had an itch to open a franchise but never found just the right one.  He was able to scratch that itch after he and Debi made a trip to one of Your Pie Founder Drew French’s locations in the Beechwood area of Athens.  The two fell in love with the customizable pizza concept, the family-friendly atmosphere, and the delicious pizza. The two opened their Watkinsville Your Pie in September 2010.  They opened their 2^nd location in on the East side of Athens in February 2013.  The couple has three boys, ages 8, 13, and 16, who attend Oconee County schools.

How did you learn about the brand?

Clay is a foodie so we go to new restaurants all the time.  We’d heard about this new place called Your Pie so we went and checked it out.  Clay had always been interested in opening a franchise, and had been thinking about it for 10 or 15 years.  We went to Drew’s (Your Pie Founder Drew French) store in Beechwood and loved it!  We liked the whole experience.  We loved the customizable pizza concept, the ingredients, and the beer and wine.  Your Pie is a completely family-friendly place.  Kids love it, and that’s been a really fun part of it.

What makes your business unique in the community?

You get to make your own pizza.  It’s as simple as that.  Being able to customize their own pizza is a big deal to our customers.  We have regulars who come in 3 or 4 times a week and our managers can start making their unique and personalized pie when they see them walking down the sidewalk toward the door.  We have great employees too and we’ve been very lucky in our hiring.  We have some of the high school kids and students from UGA.

Are you involved with any charities or do any community outreach with your business?

We do a lot of “Spirit Nights” where groups, organizations, and teams, come in and we give back a percentage of the profits to the group.  We host youth trivia nights.  We worked with Coaches vs. Cancer recently, a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, and we gave the prize of free pizza for a year to the winner.  We’re very active in our local church. 

What challenges have you overcome to get where you are now?

We, like most business owners, are constantly in a battle to keep our food and labor under control.  We gave a ton of discounts in our first year trying to get people in the doors, but we’ve had to adjust and adapt how we do things each year to make sure the experience is the best it can possibly be for our customers.

What are your expansion or development plans? What is your end goal with Your Pie?

We just opened our Athens – East Side location in February so we don’t have any plans to open up additional locations right now.  We’d like to focus on our two restaurants and make them the best they can be.

Do you have any superstar employees?

We have two great GMs at our restaurants who are actually brother and sister.  Caroline works at Watkinsville and her older brother Grant works at our Athens – East Side location…and their other brother works at the Watkinsville restaurant with Caroline.

Forrest is a fantastic employee who we actually interviewed at the Mexican restaurant next door before we were even open.  She was in high school when she started here, and is now in college.  Forrest won the Your Pie Lineage Scholarship last year.  This year, another one of our employees, Katie Hilton, won the Your Pie Lineage Scholarship.

Do you have any hobbies, pastimes, and passions outside of work?

We spend most of our time with the kids.  We just celebrated our 20^th anniversary and went to Mexico for a week which was fantastic.  We also stay involved with the school council, Oconee County Chamber of Commerce, and our church.

Georgia Oak Orders a Slice of Your Pie

Atlanta Firm Invests Equity Capital in Thriving Athens-based Customized Pizza Franchise Brand

ATLANTA – Your Pie and Georgia Oak Partners (“Georgia Oak”) announced today that they have entered into a partnership in which Georgia Oak will invest substantial growth equity into the emerging, customized pizza franchise brand. 

Georgia Oak’s capital infusion will be used to support Your Pie’s infrastructure growth and provide capital to promote further franchise expansion of the customized pizza franchise brand. The company has 17 locations in the southeastern United States and plans to open eight additional locations by the end of 2013.

“Our partnership with Georgia Oak will allow Your Pie to further innovate its delicious fast casual brand of pizza and to develop in more cities across the United States,” said Your Pie Founder Drew French.  “Georgia Oak’s approach of adding value to its investments in a variety of ways will improve our brand positioning, increase the support we offer our franchisees and, moving forward, sharpen our growth vision.”

“We are excited to join in this partnership with our Georgia neighbors at Your Pie,” said Mike Lonergan, Managing Partner of Georgia Oak.  “Your Pie has led the pack in the booming fast casual pizza category behind visionary leadership and with a proven concept that has been fine-tuned over the company’s five years of remarkable success. Georgia Oak Partners is proud to join Your Pie as the company continues their aggressive expansion in the Southeast and across the country.”

In addition to the financial support provided by Georgia Oak Partners, the partnership will include an investment of the company’s wealth of intellectual capital. David Barr, Director for Georgia Oak Partners, has more than two decades of success in the restaurant industry with experience as CEO of Great American Cookies, Inc., Chairman of Don Pablo’s, and on the board of directors of Mrs. Fields Cookies, TCBY, and Del Frisco’s Restaurant Group.  In addition, Barr has previous experience working for Pizza Hut as well as other national non-restaurant retailers.   Barr will work closely with existing management to guide the acceleration of franchisee and unit growth. 

About Your Pie

Your Pie is the world’s originator of the fast casual, brick-oven, customized personal pizza concept. Your Pie founder Drew French tapped his restaurant background and knowledge of the conveyor-driven quick-serve and married it with brick oven technology to create the highest quality pizza available in a fast and customized format for customers to enjoy.  Drawing from authentic family recipes from the Italian island of Ischia, Your Pie uses only fresh ingredients, homemade pizza sauces and salad dressings, and offers vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free pizzas, as well as traditional pizzas. As a result, the Your Pie brand has become a favorite of customers in communities throughout the southeastern U.S. and continues to expand with rapid franchisee development.  For more information about Your Pie or franchising opportunities, please visit www.yourpie.com.

About Georgia Oak Partners

Georgia Oak Partners is a highly differentiated investment platform focused on growth private equity investments in the Southeast US. Georgia Oak seeks to invest $2 to $10 million in privately owned companies in the transportation, manufacturing, business services, and consumer or restaurant sectors. Georgia Oak’s team includes seasoned industry executives who work to supplement incumbent management teams in accelerating performance and value. More information can be found at www.GeorgiaOakPartners.com.

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Your Pie Featured in Restaurant Hospitality Magazine

Your Pie was recently featured in Restaurant Hospitality Magazine in an article titled, "Fast-casual pizza segment heats up".

The article discusses the recent trend in the fast-casual pizza segment, mentioning that many claim the have been the first to create the build-your-own pizza concept. The article references the increasing competition in the market, citing it as a $31-billion segment. Your Pie is mentioned as the first fast-casual pizza concept to open in April of 2008.

Click HERE for the full article or begin reading below:

Fast-casual pizza segment heats up

By: Eric Stoessel

Several of the emerging fast-casual players claim to have created the build-your-own pizza concept, but the better question is who will be left standing. More than a dozen brands have debuted in the last five years and are now taking shape across the country, vying to become the dominant player in the growing gourmet pizza category.

It’s easy to see why. Fast casual has become a $31-billion segment since Chipotle began reinventing fast food 20 years ago. Consumers today want quality offerings made quickly. The limited-service pizza segment does $31 billion in sales and if you add casual Italian dining chains, pizza is part of a $50-billion marketplace.

Your Pie Featured in Jacksonville Business Journal

Your Pie was recently featured in the Jacksonville Business Journal in an article titled, "Will pizza be the next food fad to hit Jacksonville?"

The article touches upon the history of food fads in Jacksonville, including froyo, cupcakes, and gourmet burgers. Recently, they've seen an increase in the presence of a fast-casual pizza in the region. Your Pie is the first to be mentioned in the trend of the "better" pizzas.

Click HERE for the full article or begin reading below:

Will pizza be the next food fad to hit Jacksonville?

By: Ashley Gurbal Kritzer

Froyo. Cupcakes. Cronuts. Gourmet burgers.

What will be the next foodie fad to hit Jacksonville?

It’ll likely be an upscale take on pizza, served in a fast casual setting, an analyst said.

“We’re looking ahead and seeing better pizza concepts emerging,” said Mary Chapman, director of product innovation for Technomic Inc., a Chicago-based food industry analysis firm. “There are a handful of concepts around the country.”