Industry | Restaurants |
---|---|
Founded | 1986 |
Headquarters | Newport Beach, California |
Key people
|
Sid Fanarof (Founder & Owner), Chris Bright and Dan Rowe (Owners) |
Products | Pizza |
Website | www |
zpizza (originally called z pizza and commonly known as z) is a pizza franchise based in Newport Beach, California.
zpizza has locations scattered across the country. They also sell salads and sandwiches. zpizza's customers have the option of creating their own pizza from the provided "crusts, sauces, cheeses and toppings".
zpizza was founded in Laguna Beach, California, in 1986 by Sid Fanarof. It is owned by Fanarof, Chris Bright, and Dan Rowe, the founders of Fransmart. Since then many new stores have opened in the country with the majority of them in the Bay Area, Los Angeles area, the Phoenix metro, and the Raleigh metro. zpizza started to franchise in 2000.
During the restaurant's inception in Laguna Beach, Fanarof and Suzi Megroz, his business partner, called it "the pizza place". Raised in France, Suzi pronounced the name with an accent, "zee pizza place". They had not yet to choose an official name for the restaurant, and Suzi's pronunciation inspired them to call it z pizza. As the business matured, the company omitted the space, officially naming it "zpizza" and occasionally calling it "z".
Noting that zpizza has "terrific sandwiches", Larry Lipson of The San Bernardino Sun gave zpizza three-and-a-half stars. Karen Nitkin of The Baltimore Sun wrote that zpizza is "founded on the simple, hard-to-argue-with concept that everyone's favorite fast food, the pizza, can be both more healthful and more interesting".
In a January 2009 review, Tammy Jaxtheimer of The Virginian-Pilot criticized zpizza's food. Jaxtheimer wrote that the Parmesan cheese failed to have the "rich, sharp flavor associated with the highest quality of this cheese" and that the ZBQ salad was inelegantly placed.