Pizza Inn Back On Track

Pizza Marketplace:

For a long time, it didn’t look as if Pizza Inn was going to make it to its 50th anniversary, much less return to its glory days.

The company, based in The Colony, Texas and founded in 1958, grew to nearly 800 units in 33 states before declaring bankruptcy in 1989, a result of increased competition in the pizza industry. Although Pizza Inn managed to regain its footing a few years later, the number of restaurants fell to less than 400.

To make matters worse, a series of boardroom intrigues beginning in 2002 left the company without a clear direction, mired in litigation and bleeding cash.

Today, things are a bit different. Pizza Inn is riding a wave of five straight comparable-store sales increases and is expanding both domestically and internationally. After losing $6 million in 2006, the company has returned to profitability.

“I think we’ve really turned the corner,” said Charlie Morrison, who, after serving as acting president and chief executive officer since August 2007, was officially named president and CEO in December 2007.

“We make an outstanding product,” he said. “Certainly, we’ve gone through a lot of challenging times and survived based purely on the quality of the pizza and the service we provide.”