As children, there was all the time that one place we begged our mother and father to take us to, or obtained enthusiastic about visiting for a party or a faculty discipline journey.
In any case, children’ fixations are easy: Give them pizza and leisure, they usually’ll fortunately keep occupied for hours. When a enterprise provides each, it usually turns into a welcome break for fogeys as nicely.
Everybody has their very own model of that place, whether or not it is Chuck E. Cheese, Dave & Buster’s, or Primary Occasion. Over time, these spots have turn out to be go-to locations for households throughout the nation. In Texas, nonetheless, one chain has lengthy stood aside as a supply of Lone Star pleasure.
Mr Gatti’s Pizza started in 1964 as a small restaurant referred to as “The Pizza Place” in Stephenville, Texas. 5 years later, it relocated to Austin and was renamed Mr Gatti’s, in honor of the founder’s spouse’s maiden title.
In the course of the Seventies, the Mr Gatti’s model expanded into a series and launched buffet-style eating, an innovation that helped distinguish it from rivals.
Though the Austin restaurant predated the primary Chuck E. Cheese location (which opened in San Jose, California, in 1977), Mr Gatti’s did not actually bounce onto the entertainment-plus-pizza development till the Nineteen Eighties. The idea rapidly gained over households, and at this time Mr Gatti’s Pizza operates greater than 200 places throughout Texas and the southeastern U.S.
Trade consultants say this hybrid mannequin has turn out to be more and more invaluable as conventional informal eating struggles to compete for shoppers. In line with a 2025 McKinsey & Firm survey, 45% of surveyed shoppers have diminished their spending at pizza eating places.
“When there’s good leisure and good experiences, verify averages go up,” Downtown Restaurant Investments President and BYOD CEO Dave Dittenber advised Restaurant Dive.
Dittenber added that leisure solely works when paired with robust service and high quality meals.
Mr Gatti’s Pizza has offered a majority stake in its enterprise to OneRyan International LLC, the household workplace of businessman and philanthropist G. Brint Ryan, in response to a press launch. The monetary phrases of the deal weren’t disclosed.
OneRyan has been a franchisee of Mr Gatti’s Pizza since 2022, however its involvement with the model has steadily expanded.
In September 2025, OneRyan acquired a minority stake within the firm and, a month later, bought a corporate-owned restaurant at South Park Meadows in Austin. That transaction accomplished Mr Gatti’s Pizza’s transition to a totally franchised system and concluded the re-franchising of all company-owned places.
As a part of the deal, G. Brint Ryan will function chairman, and Amanda S. Ryan will function vice chairwoman of the Board of Managers. CEO Jim Phillips and CFO KC Mann will stay of their roles, together with the remainder of the senior management group.
Mr Gatti’s Pizza’s company headquarters will proceed to be primarily based in Fort Value, the place the corporate relocated following its acquisition by Sovrano LLC in 2015.
“Our deep appreciation for the Mr Gatti’s model, mixed with our firsthand expertise working places throughout a number of markets, made this acquisition a pure and thrilling alternative,” stated OneRyan CEO Amanda S. Ryan.
“Mr Gatti’s has constructed a category-leading platform in eating and household leisure, supported by an distinctive community of franchisees. We stay up for serving to the model proceed to develop and thrive.”
Phillips described Ryan as an “distinctive chief with monumental respect for the heritage of Mr Gatti’s.”
“He brings a compelling imaginative and prescient for the model’s future, together with the experience wanted to assist us attain our full potential,” Phillips added. “We’re excited to have his management each as an owner-operator and as Chairman as we enter this subsequent section of development.”
Mr Gatti’s Pizza sells its majority stake to OneRyan International LLC.Shutterstock ·Shutterstock
Though Mr Gatti’s Pizza will not be a nationwide chain, its recognition within the southern U.S. has allowed it to proceed rising. The corporate reported a 4% enhance in system-wide gross sales for fiscal 2024, in response to PR Newswire.
By the tip of that 12 months, the chain had 234 places open and underneath improvement, having awarded 39 new franchise agreements in 2024 alone.
Enlargement reveals no indicators of slowing. In July 2024, Mr Gatti’s Pizza sealed a partnership cope with Walmart (WMT) to open 92 new places throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Kentucky by mid-2026.
These Walmart-based places are smaller than conventional stand-alone shops and do not embody arcade video games, however they nonetheless provide the complete menu. This format was designed to seize high-traffic retail clients with out the expense of arcades.
Nevertheless, the highway has not all the time been clean.
Extra Restaurant Enterprise Information:
Mr Gatti’s Pizza’s former dad or mum firm, Sovrano LLC, filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety in January 2019 after accumulating $32 million in secured debt and itemizing liabilities between $10 million and $50 million, in response to court docket information.
On the time, an organization spokesperson advised the Austin American-Statesman that the chapter submitting was meant to deal with banking and operational points, emphasizing that it was not as a result of model’s efficiency and wouldn’t have an effect on store-level operations. The submitting utilized solely to 1 corporate-owned location and didn’t influence franchise assist.
Many corporations select to franchise to speed up growth and set up their model throughout extra markets. A franchisee invests in the best to function a enterprise underneath a acknowledged title, lowering the chance related to ranging from scratch.
As franchisees achieve expertise and confidence in a model’s long-term potential, they usually search better possession to maximise returns.
In line with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 17% of latest eating places shut inside their first 12 months, making franchising an interesting lower-risk different for each operators and model homeowners.
Nonetheless, the mannequin has drawbacks. As a result of each day operations are dealt with by particular person homeowners, sustaining constant high quality could be a problem. Poor oversight or mismanagement by even just a few franchisees can injury a model’s status.
“Labor consultants say that franchised chains have increased charges of violations than corporate-run chains as a result of they’re much less invested in preserving a model’s status,” wrote Labor Knowledgeable Lauren Kaori Gurley and Investigative Information Reporter Emmanuel Martinez for The Washington Put up. “They’re additionally underneath stress to maintain labor prices low to make up for steep working prices, particularly franchise charges.”
For OneRyan, ready a number of years earlier than buying a controlling stake doubtless allowed the agency to raised perceive these dangers, assess the model’s long-term potential, and place itself for sustainable development earlier than committing absolutely.
“What excites me most about franchising at this time is the following era of rising manufacturers — founders who’re intentional about development and dedicated to constructing sustainable techniques,” stated Franchise FastLane VP Model Recruiter Patrick Sanchez for FranchiseWire.
“Franchising, when executed proper, creates alternative far past unit development. It builds communities, empowers entrepreneurs, and adjustments lives. Success isn’t about rising quick — it’s about rising nicely.”
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