A Pizza Place Backed By Lebron James To Open At Moncton’s Granite Centre
MONCTON – An American custom pizza chain whose financial backers include LeBron James has confirmed plans to fire up its stone ovens at a berth on Granite Drive next year.
Irwin Dawson, the franchisee bringing Blaze Pizza to Moncton’s Granite Center, said he has to wait until the restaurant’s 2,600-square-foot home is built before moving in – but anticipates that he’ll have staff flipping dough at the location by early late winter or early spring, 2023.
“I think they’ve started pushing dirt, but I can’t predict what the timeframe would be for a turnover,” said Dawson.
“Optimistically, I think we’d get possession of the premises this fall and that would mean a late winter or early spring opening for us.”
Founded in 2011, Blaze Pizza is known for pizzas that customers have the option of choosing the toppings for – a format similar to Subway – which happens to be another restaurant chain of which Dawson is a franchisee.
In addition to Blaze Pizza, Dawson is in charge of 20 Subway franchises across the Maritimes in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
“It’s a build-your-own concept, artisanal, handcrafted pizza,” said Dawson, CEO of Charlottetown-based Islandsand Holdings Inc.
Dawson said customers will be able to choose from a variety of toppings, and watch staff bake pizzas in the chain’s stone hearth ovens.
“You can build your own, or select one off the menu, and it’s fast-fired right in front of you. It takes 180 seconds and you walk out with your pizza or sit down and enjoy it, in house,” said Dawson.
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Dawson noted the restaurant is a versatile space that can accommodate a sit-down dinner on the weekend and employees from the nearby Caledonia Industrial park looking for lunch.
Headquartered in Pasadena, the chain – which has 223 restaurants in North America – first came to Canada in October, 2015, when it opened in Toronto.
NBA star LeBron James was one of the early investors in the chain, putting nearly $1 million into the business in 2012. James’ stake in the chain grew to more than $35 million after the partial sale of Blaza Pizza to an American equity firm in 2017.
In addition to Canada and the U.S., Blaze Pizza has restaurants in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
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Dawson’s plans to bring Blaze Pizza to Moncton is part of an aggressive expansion into the Maritime region that saw one open in Charlottetown in summer 2021, and another in St. John’s the day Dawson spoke to Huddle about his plans for Moncton.
When asked how much it costs to open a franchise, Dawson demurred, noting he didn’t have a finished budget for the Moncton location.
While he does have plans to open more locations in New Brunswick, Dawson said it’s too early to go into too much detail on those plans.
“We’re certainly looking for sites,” he noted.
To staff the Moncton location, Dawson said he plans to hire something in the range of the 42 people he hired to staff Newfoundland’s first Blaze Pizza.
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“But that’s probably one of the biggest challenges today – particularly in New Brunswick – finding employees,” he said.
“There are so many employment opportunities, and as a country, we’re getting older. We’ve been predicting for 20 years that baby boomers would exit the workforce and there aren’t enough people coming up behind.”
Blaze Pizza is one of many chains coming to Moncton’s Granite Center – an up-and-coming retail development near the Trans-Canada Highway and the Caledonia Industrial Park that has been informally dubbed “the Dartmouth Crossing of New Brunswick.”
Blaze will join several neighbours including St. John’s based wing joint Wing’n It, and retailers like Sue Stanfield’s Take it Outside when it opens on Granite Drive next year.
Sam Macdonald is a Huddle reporter in Moncton. Send him your feedback and story ideas at [email protected].