In this episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches, Sam talks with Jim Metevier, CEO of Mountain Mike’s Pizza, a California-based brand with more than 300 locations in 10 states. Pizza as a category had a pretty rough year in 2024, with the major players mostly seeing flat or negative traffic over the prior year. Mountain Mike’s, meanwhile, enjoyed year-over-year sales growth of 5% and unit growth of 7%. So how did this pizza concept with big-box stores and a hybrid service model manage to thrive last year while so much of the category sputtered? Jim joined the podcast to share the secret to that success and what exactly the American customer is looking for with their pizza experience.

In this conversation, you’ll find out why:

• Pizza is an experience and should be treated as such
• We have a loneliness epidemic, and restaurants play a role in treating it
• The best franchisees are those who are entrepreneurial 
• In these volatile times, your franchisees need to understand the long-term vision
• How you activate the brand in your community is just as important as how you activate it within the four walls

Have feedback or ideas for Take-Away? Email Sam at [email protected].