MOD Pizza is the American artisan pizza chain that is looking to take the UK by storm after striking a partnership with entrepreneur Sir Charles Dunstone. With the company

vowing to “disrupt” the UK pizza market, FEJ caught up with the former Nando’s executive that Dunstone has hired to captain the ship and create a kitchen set-up

capable of meeting its ambitions to serve up fresh pizza in under four minutes.

ou only have to look at the number of pizza concepts springing up in high streets and

suburbs around the country to know that it’s one of

the most dynamic sectors of the market right now. On

the one hand that means both incumbents and new

entrants are facing fierce competition, but on the other it demonstrates

the level of appetite for new twists on the classic Italian dish.

If you were compiling a list of ‘ones to watch’ in this fast-

moving category then MOD Pizza would almost certainly

be at the top of it — not least for the fact that it’s got the

backing of an executive team with one of the best track

records in business.

Scott and Ally Svenson, who founded the brand

eight years ago and run its US operation,

are best known for starting Seattle Coffee

Company, which they later sold to Starbucks.

Y

THE MOD SQUAD

They are also credited with helping

to build Carluccio’s in the UK. At the

end of last year, the pair felt it was the

right time to import MOD to the UK,

signing a joint venture agreement with

Sir Charles Dunstone, of Carphone

Warehouse fame, and his long-standing

business partner, Roger Taylor.

“With its compelling combination of

superior food quality, value, speed and

its culture of leveraging the business as

a platform to do good, I believe MOD

will translate extremely well across

the UK,” Sir Charles declared when the

agreement was announced. “As one of

the fastest growing food concepts in

MOD was set up by Scott and Ally Svenson, who founded Seattle Coffee Company.

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the US, I see a tremendous opportunity

for MOD to disrupt the UK pizza scene

with its ‘super fast’ pizza experience.”

The immediate priority for the UK

business was to get the right leader in

place, which led to the appointment of

John Nelson at the start of this year.

Nelson (below left) spent 20 years at

electronics giant Dixons before joining

Nando’s as operations director, where

he oversaw strategy execution, team

development and new restaurant

openings. His time at the Portuguese

peri-peri chain coincided with it

growing from 89 stores to more than

THE GOOD THING FOR US

IS THAT THEY HAVE BEEN THROUGH THE PROCESS THAT WE ARE GOING THROUGH NOW, SO WE CAN LEARN FROM THEIR MISTAKES”

is really good — there are elements

of what they do in America that we

want to bring across from there. The

Americans also do fast-casual very well

and we think there is a huge gap in the

market for that here.”

Ultimately, says Nelson, MOD

wants customers to feel happy and

uplifted when they visit its restaurants,

which is why it takes the hiring of

staff — its ‘squads’ as it refers to them

— incredibly seriously. Those behind

the counter need to have a knack for

engaging customers to help deliver a

consistent experience across its estate.

Its target is for 75% of its restaurant

‘captains’ to eventually become GMs.

The first MOD store opened this year

in Leeds, quickly followed by Brighton.

Its Gateshead restaurant began trading

last month, while Nottingham and its

flagship in London’s Leicester Square

are both due to open this month. In

terms of store size, the company’s

sweet spot is between 2,500 square

metres and 4,500 square metres and

so far it hasn’t faced any difficulties

getting hold of the locations it wants.

Each of its first five sites has been

deliberately chosen in a different

environment so that MOD can

MOD Pizza’s UK CEO, John Nelson, believes that when it comes to the company’s philosophy there are similarities with the way in which his former employer Nando’s approached business. When he started with Nando’s he was attracted to the opportunity of being part of a restaurant concept that put a firm emphasis on its people and the broader community.

At MOD, restaurant staff are encouraged to be active in the community, with each site forming strong bonds with local charity partners and community outreach programmes. In Leeds, for instance,

it has partnered with local non-profit organisation Breeze, which arranges special city-wide events and bespoke schemes for young people from all backgrounds. Breeze received 100% of the proceeds from pizza sales on the first day that the Leeds store opened.

“One of the things that was immediately clear when I saw the business in the US was the focus on people and giving back,” says Nelson. “We are taking the same attitude in the UK and in the first three months of Leeds opening, the squad did five or six fundraising events.”

CORPORATE CULTURE HAS SHADES OF NANDO’S ABOUT IT

200. He therefore knows a thing or two

about scaling restaurant businesses and

the growing pains that come with rapid

expansion.

Nelson’s first task when he was

pinpointed to lead the UK business

was to fly to Seattle, where he spent

time with the Svensons getting to

know the MOD philosophy. He loved

what he saw. “I was blown away by it

all,” he tells FEJ. “One of the things

that struck me was the ethos of the

company — there is genuine emphasis

on spreading the MOD culture into

new communities by offering great

jobs, excellent benefits and career

growth opportunities.”

The other aspect that Nelson

was taken aback by was the service.

“British service has a reputation of not

being that great, but in America service

MOD plans to open 10 sites in the UK in 2017.

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evaluate where the concept works

best. Leeds is in the city centre, where

it is proving popular with students,

Brighton is in a marina location and

Gateshead is in a shopping centre.

Nottingham will be its first attempt at

a leisure park. As far as the future goes,

it is planning a further 10 sites in 2017.

The topic of site acquisition is one

that remains particularly emotive

for restaurant chains in the current

climate, with soaring rents and

imminent business rates hikes leaving

operators fearing profits will be hit.

Nelson is not as worried as some

of his larger competitors are likely to

be, suggesting MOD is less exposed

because of its size. “We are just three

sites at this moment in time so it is not

an issue for us, but I would imagine

that certainly for much larger chains it

is a problem,” he says.

The presence of Charles Dunstone,

the co-founder and former chairman

of mobile phone retailer Carphone

Warehouse, in the business has

undoubtedly helped to elevate MOD’s

profile. Having introduced Five Guys

to the UK market three years ago, he

has already trodden the kind of path

that MOD can expect to go down in the

The oven is the heartbeat of MOD’s kitchen, with the chain aiming to cook every pizza from scratch in less than four minutes. It joined forces with Gozney Ovens, based in Christchurch, Dorset, which designed a custom oven for MOD to produce pizza exactly the way it wants.

The MOD team trialled and tested the Gozney oven range before selecting a custom version of the Barbican 1900, currently the largest unit that it provides. “MOD has a really unique offering,” says

SPECIFICATION: CHOOSING THE RIGHT OVEN

Spotlight: Barbican 1900Pizza capacity (12”): 15Oven weight (KG): 2000Internal (mm): 1900External (mm): 1926Fire up time from cold (Mins): 90Daily fire up time (Mins): 30Heat retention (Hours): 96Source: www.gozneyovens.com

Tom Gozney, managing director of Gozney Ovens. “Making artisan- style pizzas, on demand, MOD allows customers to assemble their own pizza and salad. Due to their ‘super fast’ concept, they need a reliable oven that has a fast deck recovery time, whilst also meeting their ideal cook time to keep pizzas moving,” he adds.

Gozney’s Barbican 1900 has a 1900mm internal cooking diameter or 15 x 12-inch pizza capacity. It is capable of cooking up to 600 pizzas an hour. The Barbican range, which is available in both freestanding and enclosed formats, is designed as a multi-use oven, capable of cooking a diverse range of large and small dishes, plus high temperature pizza,

while running on a choice of wood, gas or a combination of the two.

The ovens combine an authentic stone oven cooking environment with a unique large, elongated

entrance for easy access and viewing of the cooking floor. Manufactured in the UK from a high density 100mm thick refractory dome, the Barbican range of ovens is heavily insulated with high grade modern insulators to ensure optimum heat retention.

The enclosed unit offers operators the option of direct placement within a busy cookline or within an exterior enclosure using a cladding system to create an appliance that meets both functionality and design requirements.

Restaurants are set up to facilitate fast order-taking and quick service.

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THE PIZZA OVENS THEY USE IN

THE US ARE MADE IN CALIFORNIA AND SO IT WAS IMMEDIATELY APPARENT THAT THE COST OF IMPORTING AND CE APPROVAL WOULD MAKE IT A CHALLENGE FOR US TO USE THOSE HERE”

1. Customers can choose from 34 toppings.

2. Regardless of toppings or salad ingredients, the price always remains £7.47.

3. A new restaurant opening in Leicester Square, London, this month will serve as MOD’s flagship UK site.

4. MOD will operate 190 stores globally by the end of the year.

5. 80 stores have opened in the past 12 months.

6. Sales grew 168% to $70m (£56m) in H1 2016.

7. MOD will have created 5,000 jobs by year end.

8. Around $170,000 (£136,000) was donated to local non-profit organisations in the first half of the year.

9. MOD was recently ranked by analyst firm Technomic as America’s fastest growing restaurant chain

10. MOD raised round $106m (£85m) in finance from PWP Growth Equity and a small group of private investors, including $32m (£26m) from its latest equity funding round.

months ahead. And although he is not

involved in day-to-day operations, Nel-

son speaks with him two to three times

a week. “He is a very down-to-earth

person, and very insightful. As we go

about our journey and explore which

direction to take, Charles’ expertise

is invaluable. It is the same with Scott

[Svenson], who is a great sounding

board and provides a lot of operational

support. The good thing for us is that

the US team have been through the

process that we are going through now,

so we can learn from their mistakes.”

The MOD Pizza model is unique.

Customers can build their own

individual, artisan-style pizza or salad

using fresh-pressed dough and a choice

of 34 toppings. Regardless of how

many toppings the customer chooses,

the price is always £7.47. “The feedback

we have had so far has been fantastic,”

says Nelson. “One of the first things

we have learned is that you need to

give customers time to get used to the

concept. When they first come in they

tend to put all the ingredients on top

and then realise they don’t need to!”

Pizzas are cooked ‘superfast’ in

MOD’s gas-fired ovens in around

four minutes and Nelson has been

instrumental in overseeing the

specification of the equipment.

Although the kitchen model and

equipment lay-out is styled on the

US business, MOD had to find its

own supplier of ovens for the UK.

“The pizza ovens they use in the US

are made in California and so it was

immediately apparent that the cost

of importing and CE approval would

make it a challenge for us to use the

same ones,” he explains.

As a result, Nelson scoured the

market for UK-based suppliers before

narrowing the shortlist down to eight

companies. He selected Gozney Ovens, a Dorset-based pizza equipment

manufacturer specialising in wood-

fired, gas and combination stone

hearthed ovens. “It was important

for me to find someone who knew

what they were talking about and

could do things at pace given our

plans for expansion. When you are a

new company in the market you want

flexibility from a supplier and Gozney

was able to offer that.”

The biggest lesson Nelson learned

during his search for the perfect oven

was the impact that the type of dough

can have on what the equipment serves

up. “I had no idea of the complexity of

dough!” he laughs. These days he is an

expert on the subject. And if MOD’s

forthcoming sites receive anything like

the reception its first ones have, he has

definitely found a winning formula.

10 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MOD

Customers can build their own artisan-style pizza from a choice of 34 toppings.

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