Pieology Pizzeria has plan for a restaurant on Oahu

The nation’s fastest-growing pizza chain is coming to Hawaii.

Pieology Pizzeria customers choose from flour, whole wheat or gluten-free crusts, choose from seven sauces and can top their pizzas with any or all of dozens of toppings such as cheeses, including a vegan option, meats and a range of vegetables. No matter the number of toppings, the price will be the same.

Hawaii prices are not yet set, but mainland customers typically get an 11- or 12-inch pizza and soft drink for "under 10 bucks," founder Carl Chang told the Hono­lulu Star-Advertiser.

The Hawaii operator will be Peter Capriotti, owner of the isles’ seven Wendy’s hamburger restaurants and many restaurants on the mainland.

Capriotti’s Cotti Foods Pizza One Inc. is in the final stages of executing a lease at Aina Haina Shopping Center.

"We should have a signed lease within two weeks," he said. "We’re shooting for (opening) in the first quarter of 2016," and while "we would love to see it before the holidays, I doubt" it will be ready to open its doors, he said.

A respected restaurant industry publication recently named Pieology the fastest-growing pizza chain in the U.S., though it is not all through franchising, Chang said.

"Ultimately it could be a 30-70 or 50-50 kind of mix" of corporate-owned and franchised locations, he said. "As a business model, I’m a big believer in being a significant development partner myself. If you’re stewarding a franchisee, you should be one of the best operators," Chang said.

The legacy of the brand and its involvement in and impact on its community are important to him. "I want to stay true to that foundation," he said.

Carl Chang is "the less famous of the Chang brothers," he chuckled, in a nod to brother and tennis champion Michael Chang, whose wife is originally from Hawaii.

The first Pieology opened in California in 2011 some four years after Carl Chang started "incubating" the idea.

"Traditionally, I’m a real estate guy, and helped a lot of concepts find locations," he said, "but I’m a great lover of food. I’m a foodie at heart."

Speaking of his family’s humble beginnings, he said, "no matter how tough times were, as long as we were there together, we knew we were going to be OK." The meaningfulness of family gatherings around food caused him to start Pieology.

Chang said pizza had gone from a celebration food to "a convenience, delivery and coupon food." He wanted to reposition pizza around fun, sharing, family and friends.

The dough is made fresh daily from proprietary Pieology flour mixtures, "and we blend our own sauce every day, fresh," he said.

What customers do with the ingredients after that is up to them. While there are some menu suggestions, employees build pizzas according to customers’ choices.

"If you wanted to put 40 different things on a pizza, you’re more than welcome to," Chang said. "It may not taste great, and we might get a great laugh out of it and offer you a free one, but you’re going to have a lot of fun doing it," he said.

Many of the mainland restaurants also serve beer and wine, but not all of them. Chang doesn’t recommend beer and wine service at stores near college campuses, he said.

Capriotti said he plans for the Aina Haina Pieology Pizzeria to serve beer and wine.

Hawaii Pieology stores will be approximately 2,500 square feet, with indoor seating for 50 customers and outdoor seating for 20 to 40 more.

Construction on the first store could begin in October, and Capriotti has exclusive rights to develop at least 19 more in Hawaii. He might build more depending on what the market can bear, according to Steve Siglin, general counsel for California-based Cotti Foods Corp.

The company and its affiliates own 62 Taco Bell restaurants on the mainland, seven of them with Pizza Hut Express operations; 43 Wendy’s restaurants, including six on Oahu and one on Maui; and two mainland Pieology restaurants. The Aina Haina Pieology will be the company’s third.

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On the Net:

» www.pieology.com

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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.