From MOD Pizza and Pieology to Blaze and Colorado’s own Pizzeria Locale, the contemporary dining landscape is is increasingly awash in chains with business models that basically boil down to “Chipotle, but for pizza. So perhaps it isn’t surprising that when Boulder chef Nate Rajotte began having conversations with two partners about possible ideas for a new restaurant brand, the team initially gravitated toward fast-casual pizza with the potential for future franchising.

That vision began to change, however, when Rajotte began to look into how many of the existing fast-casual franchises actually make their pizza. He found the equipment and process that allows such chains to make replicable pizzas that are easy to make and can be produced by a staff of inexperienced pizza makers also results in pizza that is inherently “really average.”