Blaze Fast-Fire’d Pizza Announces Grand Opening of Isla Vista, CA Location

Blaze Fast-Fire’d Pizza today announced that it is scheduled to open its first Isla Vista location at 6546 Pardall Rd., adjacent to the University of California, Santa Barbara campus, on Saturday, March 8. To celebrate, the company is set to offer its custom built, fast-fire’d artisan pizzas FREE to Blaze Pizza’s Facebook fans on Monday, March 10 between 11:00 a.m. and midnight. Those who “like” the Blaze Pizza page on Facebook can print out a screen shot, or present it on their mobile device to obtain their free pizza at the Isla Vista restaurant, located at 6546 Pardall Rd. The new restaurant features an outdoor patio for afternoon and evening dining and is located near Freebirds and The Habit.

Blaze Pizza uses an interactive assembly line format that allows guests to create their own custom-built artisanal pizzas at freakishly fast speeds – each for around $7.00. Each pizza starts with a generous 11-inch crust that is pressed fresh from a perfectly proofed dough ball. Then guests travel down the interactive assembly line to “co-create” a signature pizza or design one of their own — choosing from a wide variety of house-made sauces, fresh vegetables and hand-selected meats and cheeses. To finish, each guest’s custom-built pizza is “fast fire’d” in a blazing-hot oven and ready in a scant two to three minutes.

To achieve pizza perfection, the company teamed up with critically acclaimed Executive Chef Bradford Kent, owner of Los Angeles’ top rated Olio Pizzeria & Café. True to its culinary heritage, every Blaze Pizza restaurant makes its own dough from scratch using a recipe that requires a 24-hour fermentation period to produce its signature light-as-air, crisp crust. For pizza fans with specific dietary needs, Blaze Pizza offers gluten-free dough and vegan cheese. Blaze Pizza’s menu also features fresh salads, signature lemonades, and house-made S’more Pies.

“Blaze Pizza is all about letting folks build pizzas any way they want with our ingredients and crust. It’s a concept I’m thrilled to lend my expertise to,” said Chef Kent.

Blaze Pizza is looking forward to building strong roots within the U.C. Santa Barbara community. To that end, the company has developed a turn-key in-restaurant fundraiser program that returns 20% of an event’s proceeds back to local organizations, and will be partnering with local schools, sports clubs and other organizations to host fundraising events at the new restaurant.

The Isla Vista Blaze Pizza will be operated by H R Pizza Holdings, LLC, a franchise group led by Chase Heller and Karen Rudnai.

About Blaze Pizza

Blaze Pizza is an independent company founded by Elise and Rick Wetzel (co-founder of Wetzel’s Pretzels). The concept is backed by investors including LeBron James, Maria Shriver, Boston Red Sox co-owner Tom Werner, movie producer John Davis, Maverick Carter and Paul Wachter, and includes the talents of highly acclaimed Executive Chef Bradford Kent, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. The company, which has been featured by CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Good Morning America Live, is considered the leader of the rapidly emerging fast-casual pizza category. Blaze Pizza is registered to sell franchises in all 50 states and is currently expanding nationwide. For more information, please visit www.blazepizza.com or www.facebook.com/blazepizza.