LeBron James Leaving McDonald's, Investing In Pizza Franchise Blaze

[Warren Moon]

Just checked the website

I want IN on this new pizza shyt breh

You should. Look for a company crowdfunding. I've never looked in the pizza area myself but the next 2-3 years a bunch of companies will be trying to get big

 

[AVXL]

LeBrons?

His, &pizza, whoever. These new wave pizza chains are about to change the game breh

 

[Big Boss]

Marco's is decent, much better than Dominos/Pizza Hut/Papa Johns for sure.

I have seen Jet's out here, but never tried it personally.

Lil Caesars is garbage, but @Big Boss loves that shyt

The Lil Caesars seasoning packet is good though.

 

[Sly Cookin]

Just checked the website

I want IN on this new pizza shyt breh

They got a couple spots like this already. Your pie and pizza crosta are both the same set up

 

[mr. smoke weed]

LeBron James has decided to leave guaranteed endorsement income on the table for a potentially much bigger piece of the pie down the road.


James has decided not to renew his option with McDonald's; he will lend his name and marketing power to fast-casual pizza franchise Blaze.


In 2012, James became an original investor in the parent company, which is one of the stronger players in the assembly-line pizza concept.


Together with Larry Levy of Levy Restaurants and his business manager, Maverick Carter, James locked up franchise rights in Miami and Chicago.


But James, who has previously cashed out of equity stakes in Cannondale and Beats By Dre, added to his ownership of the pizza company by recently committing to be part of its marketing campaign.


"This move aligns with LeBron's brand and his history of helping companies grow faster and bigger as an equity partner," Carter said.


The deal was put together by James' business adviser, Paul Wachter.


Neither the company nor Carter would disclose the exact stake James has in Blaze, but a source told ESPN.com that he owns more than 10 percent of the company, which is separate from his stake in Chicago and Miami franchise rights.


Among other efforts, James will introduce Blaze to his vast social media audience. With 24.2 million followers, James is the second-most-followed athlete on Twitter in the world, behind only soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo. Opendorse, a company that specializes in monetizing digital and social media campaigns for athletes, said in August that the media value of a single James tweet was $139,474, more than any other U.S. athlete's.


"LeBron came on as a founding investor, and he had been silent and in the background," said Rick Wetzel, who founded Blaze with his wife, Elise. "Now we're using him to get our message out there and put the spotlight on our brand.



"The company currently has 88 locations. Wetzel said the brand will open up a restaurant once every four days, which will allow Blaze to have more than 200 locations by next year. The company has sold the franchise rights to the entire United States to 44 groups, including the rights in Kentucky, Tennessee and part of Florida to former NBA player Junior Bridgeman, who already owns more than 100 Wendy's and 100 Chili's restaurants. The average all-in price for a single location is around $660,000, Wetzel said.


Market retail tracking firm Technomic said that, as of the end of 2014, fast casual pizza chains generated $779 million on nearly 800 restaurants.


"There's a lot of excitement in this customized, made-for-you space," said Technomic vice president David Henkes. "And I'm really bullish on the pizza space."


Of the pizza businesses where customers go through an assembly line to decide type of dough and toppings before it is thrown into a high-heat oven, Blaze had the biggest unit growth last year (plus-400 percent) and largest sales growth (plus-450 percent), according to Technomic. Other competitors include Pieology, PieFive and PizzaRev, which counts Buffalo Wild Wings as an investor.


Aside from Blaze, James has endorsement deals with Nike, Coca-Cola, Samsung, Audemar Piguet and Upper Deck.


He continues to be a spokesperson for Beats By Dre. James cashed out to the tune of about $30 million when the company was sold to Apple last year.









LeBron James to invest in, endorse fast casual pizza franchise Blaze

If you work in Manufacturing you know about these companies. They're already making a lot of people a lot of money.

 

[Rickdogg44]

If you work in Manufacturing you know about these companies. They're already making a lot of people a lot of money.

@AVXL when we doing the Cumberland franchise. I want to quit this certs game

 

[AVXL]

@AVXL when we doing the Cumberland franchise. I want to quit this certs game

My breh tryna leave the certs game

Breh if we can get something over by the new Braves stadium or something in West Midtown that shyt will sell itself. Entry cost is prohibitive, but the payoff I'm seriously looking into it, we just gotta find the right mix of investors

@Sly Cookin I think there's room in ATL for a few of these style pizza chains to eat, just depends how it's introduced to this market. I already got a couple local locations in mind, not including areas I've already mentioned in here

 

[p00rky]

I have never seen one in California. Must be a regional pizza franchise

 

[Sly Cookin]

My breh tryna leave the certs game

Breh if we can get something over by the new Braves stadium or something in West Midtown that shyt will sell itself. Entry cost is prohibitive, but the payoff I'm seriously looking into it, we just gotta find the right mix of investors

@Sly Cookin I think there's room in ATL for a few of these style pizza chains to eat, just depends how it's introduced to this market. I already got a couple local locations in mind, not including areas I've already mentioned in here

Can't have too many pizza places imo. There are a lot of good potential locations. Just saying if you want to try out this style pizzeria, there's a couple popular ones in the perimeter mall area.

 

[MoneyTron]

My breh tryna leave the certs game

Breh if we can get something over by the new Braves stadium or something in West Midtown that shyt will sell itself. Entry cost is prohibitive, but the payoff I'm seriously looking into it, we just gotta find the right mix of investors

@Sly Cookin I think there's room in ATL for a few of these style pizza chains to eat, just depends how it's introduced to this market. I already got a couple local locations in mind, not including areas I've already mentioned in here

Holla at me if yall need a little capital.

 

[feelosofer]

Dinosaur is worth it. Dated a girl who lives on N. 5th in Newark and was introduced to it. Moved out to Chicago and they placed a location two miles away.

Word to mother DINO BBQ is straight flames, even their sides like Fried tomatoes are on point.

But the bill afterwards is


North 5th tho? Was she a ratchet?

 

[Liquid]

I actually didn't care much for Dinosaur BBQ when I went there a few years ago.

 

[Adam3000]

I went to Blaze in Louisville and it instantly became my favorite fast food place ever

Pizza was exactly what I seek.....thin crust fire grilled with gourmet UNLIMITED toppings all for 8 bucks. Fast and flavorful.

There is one opening soon close to me in Des Moines. Cant wait.

After I left I looked the place up online and saw Lebron was an investor

 

[K-Apps]

I had the Blaze Pizza in Newark, it was good I was impressed. I remember on Pie Day (3.14) they had pizza sold that price and the line was long outside the store I was like

 

[mr. smoke weed]

@AVXL when we doing the Cumberland franchise. I want to quit this certs game

Company that I work with does a lot of the metal forming/fabrication for the company that sells them to these FFP places. They're building infrastructure now and investing a lot of $.