Sanjay Patel is all about serving his customers, and making their favorite pizzas at Blaze Pizza was the perfect incentive to come out of retirement.
Coming out of semi-retirement, Sanjay Patel signed a five-unit deal with Blaze Pizza for Cincinnati. He has one location down and is getting the other four ready.
“I have some family and thought it would be nice to go into full business again,” said Patel. “I contacted about 20 different franchises, then the top three and one of them was Blaze Pizza.”
Blaze Pizza serves customized Neapolitan-style pizzas. At over 300 locations, Blaze did more than $372 million in 2022. The brand underwent leadership changes to revamp and continue its aggressive growth trajectory. CEO Beto Guajardo, previously with GoTo Foods, was one of the key hires. He focuses on customer trends in terms of flavor and adapting Blaze Pizza to the modern age, including smaller unit sizes and further international expansion.
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Blaze’s focus on customer experience attracted Patel to the company. After years of owning coffee shops in New York and gas stations in Ohio, the focus on customer service was more appealing.
“At one of my coffee locations, all we say was ‘Next,’ and knew regular’s orders,” said Patel.
Ease of operations was also appealing.
“There’s only one product that you sell, which is pizza,” he said. “Who doesn’t love pizza?”
That simplicity was perfect for a business pulling Patel out of retirement, especially compared to his coffee shops and stations. Blaze being a community and family-focused business sealed the deal.
Blaze Pizza kicked off its revamp efforts last October after several key executive hires.
After signing, the Blaze team got Patel in touch with a local franchisee to try the pizza. As luck would have it, the Mason, Ohio, franchisee was looking to sell and Patel took him up on the offer. He closed the store for a month in February to renovate. Since reopening, Patel’s first location is performing well, he said.
As he originally planned to retire, Patel will cap his locations at five, so he doesn’t overburden himself.
Patel is prioritizing finding convenient real estate. He’s met customers who drive 30 minutes or more to get Blaze Pizza, so he sees value in opening locations closer to those guests.
“There are five particular areas in Cincinnati that are high development, so they’ll be perfect,” said Patel.
For now, Patel plans to have his stores within the next four to five years. Finding the real estate and perfect locations takes “more time than some would think,” said Patel, so he’s being as realistic as he can.
“I have great experience in customer service,” said Patel. “I think it’s a great kind of business to run if you love people, and I love people.”