| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Food Wholesale |
| Founded | Stephenville, Texas, USA (1964) |
| Headquarters | Austin, Texas, USA |
| Key people |
Colonel James R. Eure (founder) |
| Products | Pizza Delivery, Salad bar, Pizza Buffet, Pizza Pickup, Family Entertainment |
| Website | gattispizza.com |
Gatti's Pizza (formerly Mr. Gatti's) is a Southeastern United States pizza-buffet chain. Gatti's Pizza, founded in 1964 is owned by Blue Sage Capital, a private equity investment firm.[1] The corporate offices are in Austin, Texas.[2]
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In 1964, retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James R. Eure opened a pizza and hamburger restaurant in his hometown of Stephenville, Texas.[3] He and his wife moved to Austin, Texas; and in 1969, he opened a pizza restaurant in Austin under the name, "The Pizza Place." In order to identify themselves apart from the rest of the pizza places, Colonel Eure undertook a name contest. Colonel Eure's wife's maiden name was Gatti, which soon won out over many other proposed names and The Pizza Place was renamed Mr. Gatti's Pizza.[4]
In 1974, Eure sold his chain of 18 Mr. Gatti's restaurants to a group of investors, but held on to a few franchises. The investors worked with Colonel Eure in helping the company grow by establishing in Texas and many other states.[5] The chain has since changed hands a number of times.
By the 1980s, Mr. Gatti's took on a more modern look by adding a game room and a buffet bar into many of its restaurants.[4]
Gatti's Pizza currently has over 150 locations across the United States. Some Gatti's Pizza locations are branded as GattiTown and Gattiland; which are based on the Family Entertainment Concept (FEC) with a larger physical footprint and a dedicated gaming and attraction based midway.[4] In 2004, Blue Sage Capital bought the chain.[1] Three years later in 2007, Blue Sage renamed Mr. Gatti's to Gatti's Pizza to reflect current trends.[5] In 2011 Blue Sage announced that the would construct four new super sized Gatti's restaurants based on their GattiTown model. The new locations will be between 45,000 and 60,000 square feet. In addition the typical features they will have bumpers cars, go karts, miniature golf, and miniature bowling. The four locations are based in Clearwater, Florida, El Paso, Texas, Lafayette, Louisiana, Oklahoma City, and Sugarland, Texas. They are all expected to be open by late 2011.[6]