AUSTIN, Texas — In October, Texas-born and raised Mr. Gatti’s Pizza will celebrate 53 years of serving up pizza pies in Central Texas.
The two longest-standing franchise owners are now rebranding the shop's name back to it’s 1969 roots and growing their Austin footprint.
Mr. Gatti's Pizza was founded in 1964 as "The Pizza Place." The company launched the first Mr. Gatti’s Pizza in Austin in 1969, with the name change representing a tribute to founder James Eure’s wife’s maiden name.
The company has since expanded to over 100 locations over the past 50 years.
Franchise partners Bill Boone and George Kash have been buddies and making each other laugh for years. With ownership covering 20% of Mr. Gatti’s total units, both are Austin and Round Rock locals.
"I've known George since he was, I don't know, probably in his 20s," Boone said. "I knew his mom and dad. They were customers of ours."
Boone's original career wasn’t pizza-focused – he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in accounting and law. After practicing law for about five years, he went into the Air Force.
"I ended up joining my dad and his wholesale food distribution company stayed there for 10 years," Boone said. "We sold it to Kraft in 1987 and, at that point in time, I got involved with Gary."
Boone, the CEO of Gatti's ATX, wrote the original Mr. Gatti's franchise agreement and got to know the actual Mr. Gatti through clients.
"I felt like it was a cool concept back in the '70s," Boone said.
However, for Kash, franchise owner of the Mr. Gatti's Round Rock locations, provolone cheese and Gatti’s famous pizza sauce ran through his veins from an early age.
"It started with my mom ... she was the first franchisee for Mr. Gatti's in 1972 in Cedar Park, Texas, and it's kind of been in our family ever since then," Kash said.
For the successful duo, business slowed down during the pandemic. They had to get creative to stay afloat.
"When COVID-19 hit, that shut everything down and the Austin pickup and delivery stores declared bankruptcy. But with our love for the Gatti's brand, we decided that we wanted it to stay in Austin, so we bought it out of bankruptcy," Boone said.
The pair saw how devastating the pandemic was for everyone, and they didn't know what the outcome would be.
"We decided that we would at least try to offer some people a discount so they could still get food to their table and get pizza delivered to the. We felt that was the route to go, and it turned out to be a huge success for us," Kash said.
During the pandemic, the pizza chain used 50% deals to help customers out.
"We wanted to reintroduce everything that we had done all these years and tried to recreate a culture in Austin that made the Gatti's brand top of awareness in the city," Boone said.
And their deal worked. The Austin-founded pizza franchise came out on top.
Now they're expanding after their success, with over a dozen locations in Austin, growing their Central Texas footprint to Hutto and Dripping Springs.
Through the highs and lows of owning and operating, both Boone and Kash agree one thing is for certain.
"It's about the pizza. We think it's the best pizza in town, honest. That's our slogan and we stand behind it," Boone said.
But it's also important to find a good partner to get a slice of the action with.
"It’s in my blood, you know. Once Mr. Gatti's is in your blood, it's in your blood. So I'm very fortunate and glad to be associated with it," Kash said.
Mr. Gatti's Pizza recently opened a new location in Hutto and is breaking ground soon in Dripping Springs, with an expected open date in early 2023. New locations in New Braunfels and Temple are slated to open by 2023.
Boone says he’s 75 and has a daughter in the company, but he’s not ready to retire, with all the fun happening, just yet.
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