ATLANTA Moe's Southwest Grill co-founder Matt Andrew and his partner Tony Lewis plan to open a new made-to-order pizza concept called Maddio's Pizza Joint here on New Year’s Day.
Lewis said the new Maddio’s occupies a former Mama Fu’s Noodle House location in the Toco Hill Shopping Center in the Emery University area of Atlanta. Maddio’s covers 3,500 square feet, with 91 seats inside and 50 on a patio.
“The whole concept is made-to-order pizza, where the guest goes down the line and makes the pizza to order,” Lewis said. Prices start at $5.49 for an individual cheese pizza, and a pie with three toppings is $6.49. “It’s a real value place,” Lewis said.
“Because of the economy, we really dialed in the price and paid a lot of attention to it.” Signature pizzas, such as a barbecued chicken with a tomato-basil sauce and cheeses, onion and corn, are $7.49.
Andrew sold the 390-unit Moe’s to Atlanta-based Focus Brands last year.
“I’ve been incubating this idea for the past year,” Andrew said. “I asked myself: Why can’t we do with pizza what we did with burritos? The answer is we can.” Maddio’s Pizza Joint also features a variety of sub sandwiches and salads as well as pizza.
Andrew calls Maddio’s a "New Italian" pizza joint. Customers will be greeted by a pizza maker who offers a choice of dough, sauce and more than 48 toppings.
“You walk in and basically can create your own pizza,” said Andrew, president of Maddio's Pizza Joint. “We got back to the roots of great pizza that’s made fresh and made to order. It’s like the Italian street vendors and their one-on-one relationship with the patron. It’s done in a fast, fun theatrical way. It takes four to six minutes to make the pizza, from ordering to delivering it to the table.” Salads and sandwiches are also delivered in that fast-casual service model.
“It’s the old way adapted to 21st century technology,” said Andrew. “It’s very clean. There’s a lot of stainless steel and white tile.”
His partner also has a long restaurant pedigree. Lewis is a graduate of Cornell University who developed and later sold the Caribbean-influence Bridgetown Grills in Atlanta and has since 2001 owned three Moe’s Southwest Grill franchised stores in Knoxville, Tenn., and Atlanta.
Maddio's also serves a kids’ meal: a 6-inch pizza with one topping and a drink for $2.99.