Uncle Maddio's Pizza is Dunzo in Dunwoody
Uncle Maddio's Pizza at Perimeter Village shopping center in Dunwoody has closed. The QSR pizza restaurant which opened in 2012, occupied a portion of what was for many years a Borders Books & Music store. The nearly 3,000 square foot space had been marketed by property owner Weingarten Realty for the past few months, even as the restaurant continued to operate. Its closure comes as little surprise, and hopefully means that a replacement tenant has been found.
Sources indicate that the corporately-owned restaurant closed abruptly after dinner service on Sunday. Signage posted to the restaurant's front door states that "we would like to thank all of our loyal guest who we have had the pleasure to serve over the years. Please visit us at our newest location in Acworth, GA opening Tuesday November 8 or any of our eight Atlanta locations."
The Dunwoody restaurant was reportedly the only remaining Uncle Maddio's location to be operated by corporate and used as a "training" location.
Started by former Moe's Southwest Grill co-founder Matt Andrew in 2008, Uncle Maddio's Pizza Joint was heralded as the next great franchise opportunity. Despite the Moe's Southwest Grill pedigree, about two dozen Uncle Maddio's locations have closed, leaving the once promising chain with fewer than 40 restaurants in operation.
Following closures of Uncle Maddio's locations in Buckhead, Cumberland, Midtown, Edgewood, Alpharetta and Woodstock among others, the chain has just ten locations open in Georgia: Northlake, Acworth, Smyrna, Kennesaw, Buford, Canton, Gainesville, Savannah, Warner Robins and Newnan.
Despite recent claims that "Uncle Maddio's is on track to have 300 restaurants open in five years with 1,000 units in development," more restaurants are closing than opening, with a pipeline far smaller than the company suggests.
ToNeTo Atlanta has been working on comprehensive coverage of the issues facing Uncle Maddio's and plans to publish an eye-opening report in the coming weeks.
Blaze Pizza, a similar QSR pizza restaurant, entered the Atlanta this past September with a location near Emory University in Decatur. Later this month, Blaze will open a second location. Blaze Pizza at Akers Mill near Cumberland Mall replaces a former Uncle Maddio's Pizza and is to be joined by a third location next year on Northside Drive at 17th Street near Atlantic Station.
Blaze, along with MOD Pizza, another national chain that recently entered the market, as well as local upstart Your Pie, have seemingly all performed better than Uncle Maddio's. The clear difference between the concepts is Uncle Maddio's conveyor belt pizza that cooks as its moves through an oven rather than in an actual oven at the other concepts. The quality of the pizza is apparent and it seems as though consumers are flocking to other concepts more as they continue to expand in metro Atlanta.
The months ahead will likely bring even more closures of the Uncle Maddio's restaurants.
Are you surprised to see Uncle Maddio's locations continue to close? Are you a current or former Uncle Maddio's franchisee who would be willing to share your experiences for an upcoming post? Do you think Blaze Pizza will succeed where Uncle Maddio's failed?
Please share your thoughts below
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