Papa Murphy’s expanding reach to isles

The first of 15 Papa Murphy’s take-and-bake pizza stores will open in Hawaii later this year. It is the first time the Washington-based chain with 1,500 locations will do business in the islands.

The publicly traded Papa Murphy’s Holdings LLC announced it had reached a development agreement with Take-n-Bake Hawaii LLC, led by Sean Uezu, who runs other food and retail franchises on Oahu, including five Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen restaurants and eight T-Mobile Premium Retail stores.

Papa Murphy’s sells customizable pizzas that can be ordered over the phone or online, then picked up, taken home and served at the table after 15 minutes’ baking time.

Pizza dough is made daily in-house, whole-milk Mozzarella also is grated by hand and fresh vegetables also are hand-cut in-store daily. The chain offers thin crust, traditional hand-tossed crust and pan-style pizzas all in different sizes and includes gluten-free choices. Pizza combinations range from vegetarian to a stuffed option with five meats and a choice of sauces.

Hawaii prices have yet to be set,but could be in the $10-to-$15 ballpark, Uezu said.

“We are fans first, and the product, once you try it, you will be hooked,” he added.

The first store will be on Oahu, and a location search is underway with brokers at Commercial Consultants Inc. No lease has yet been executed, Uezu said.

Restaurants typically are 1,200 to 1,500 square feet, and the Hawaii locations might employ 10 to 15 workers, although Uezu is looking for a “more impactful” spot with higher visibility and higher traffic for the first store, which could require 15 to 20 employees, he said.

Some mainland locations offer drive-thru pickup, but Uezu’s focus is on in-line spaces in “highly trafficked areas and convenient locations (such as) most of the major grocery mall-type locations,” he said.

The development agreement is for 15 stores statewide, and construction will “follow the distribution of the population,” said Jayson Tipp, chief development officer and senior vice president of technology for Papa Murphy’s parent company.

While the number of locations per island has not been set, it is likely there will be a “disproportionate number on Oahu,” he said. “We probably will focus on the population centers on Oahu, and I think from a population standpoint and a commercial viability standpoint, Maui is probably second and then probably the Big Island,” Tipp said.

“There is more opportunity beyond the first 15,” he added.

“We’re a very high-quality product, higher-quality than any other retail pizza chain and certainly better than what people call take-and-bake in grocery stores,” he said. He also mentioned warehouse stores but said that while their offerings are large, their topping choices are limited.

Papa Murphy’s views “anything you would have for dinner tonight” as its core competition, Tipp said. “Most of our consumers are telling us that they want to have a homemade dinner, that they would be having a homemade dinner but it’s difficult to make things from scratch, and they’re looking for something their entire family loves and they can feel good about — and who doesn’t like pizza?”

The company has discussed possible localization options for the Hawaii market, given company officials’ familiarity with the islands. “One of my wife’s favorite foods in Hawaii is Spam musubi,” Tipp said. “And walking into a burger place and seeing Spam on the menu was an interesting experience for mainlanders.”

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