Newport Beach-based Mountain Mike’s Pizza has been named to two coveted industry lists for its outstanding 2020 performance.
Climbing 47 spots to #140 on Restaurant Business’ Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report, Mountain Mike’s saw considerable gains last year in system sales ($206 million; up 13.3 percent), units (228; up 6.0 percent) and AUV ($947; up 7 percent).
The brand’s banner sales year also propelled it to a much higher ranking on the prestigious Nation’s Restaurant News (NRN) Top 500 report, jumping 33 spots to #156 based on domestic systemwide sales.
These accolades follow hot on the heels of Mountain Mike’s reporting Q1 2021 as its best sales quarter in the brand’s 43-year history, with same store sales up 23.4 percent.
Acquired and reinvigorated by franchise industry leaders Chris Britt and Ed St. Geme in 2017, the Mountain Mike’s brand has grown significantly in restaurant count and new market development while continuing to break sales records under the dynamic leadership of principal owners and Co-CEOs Britt and St. Geme, who also own Newport Beach-based Juice It Up!, one of the nation’s leading handcrafted smoothie, superfruit bowl and raw juice chains which has also achieved record sales results in 2020 and 2021.
“Since acquiring Mountain Mike’s four years ago, we’ve endeavored from day one to increase our brand’s visibility and the attractiveness of the franchise opportunity, which we believe is foundationally driven by strong same store and system sales performance,” said Britt. “Despite the challenges the entire restaurant industry experienced in 2020, it’s rewarding to see that our strong performance has propelled us to much greater heights on two distinguished lists and generated considerable interest amongst potential franchise partners. We are proud to be recognized as one of America’s top performing restaurant chains and look forward to introducing Mountain Mike’s Pizza to new guests throughout the country with the help of our growing franchise family.”
Currently developing in eight western states, Mountain Mike’s opened six new restaurants in Q2 and 12 so far this year, with expectations to have a total of 25 new locations open by the end of 2021.
“As we cross over into the second half of 2021 and set our sights on another record-setting year, our pipeline of new locations and franchise partners continues to grow at a rapid pace,” said Britt. “I am very excited to say that by year end we should have more than 250 Mountain Mike’s Pizza restaurants in operation and in excess of $250 million in total system sales. This is a company firing on all cylinders as we continue to turn heads, and our top tier sales performance and marketplace buzz are proof positive that Mountain Mike’s is catapulting itself to the forefront of America’s love for Pizza The Way it Oughta Be.”
For more information, visit www.MountainMikes.com and www.mountainmikesfranchise.com.
