Blaze Pizza fires up to a quick, promising start

Students walking by University Gatweay on Friday were greeted by a line leaving a distinctly orange-colored new store. Such was the frenzy that the newly opened Blaze Pizza’s free pizza day caused among USC students.

In August 2012, Elsie and Rick Wetzel commenced plans to open Blaze Fast Fire’d Pizza in Irvine and Pasadena. Since then, the restaurant chain has expanded throughout the nation, with a grand opening of a location under University Gateway — convenient enough for USC students. The nation’s leading build-your-own pizza chain shows no signs of slowing down.

Before even opening its doors, Blaze Pizza on Figueroa Street took to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to reach out to USC students and inform, captivating their attention with mention of a free pizza day. Such promotion resulted in a massive turnout of hungry, avid pizza lovers on both opening night and free pizza day.

“Blaze Pizza is a fast, casual place so it does well with the millennials, our target generation to market to,” co-manager and director of new restaurant openings Vivian Neubauer said.

A location at one of the nation’s top universities seemed ideal to the restaurant chain. Much of the restaurant’s convenience comes from its proximity to University Park campus and its culture of fast pizza service. For over a year, Blaze Pizza has eyed the Figueroa Street location. It was not until last July, after months of communicating with Gateway, that the lease was officially signed.

The premise of Blaze Pizza is quite simple: quality pizza that is quickly accessible to college students looking for a casual meal.

Some might compare the Blaze Pizza experience to that of nearby Pizza Studio, also on Figueroa Street, in that both feature an interactive assembly line. The customers have the freedom of creating a pizza appropriate to their own tastes, or customizing a signature pizza from the menu. A wide assortment of delectable, fresh toppings is set before the customer. Once the customer is satisfied with their thin crust pizza, the pizza is placed in a flaming-hot open oven and ready for enjoyment in a matter of 180 seconds. Among Blaze Pizza’s menu options are gluten-free dough and vegan cheese. The 11-inch pizzas are sold for just under $8, affordable for the college student.

As for the ingredients, Neubauer stressed the importance of remaining eco-friendly while offering a product that is nothing short of high quality.

The pizzas available are good, but not spectacular. The ingredients are fresh but the ability to offer so many choices and turn around and quickly present a prepared pizza means that no one will mistake the pizzas for gourmet fare. The quality in taste compared to other, more crafted pizzas is about the same as the difference between a Chipotle burrito to one from a restaurant which has spent time on a specific recipe. Choice is Blaze’s appeal but it also hamstrings the ceiling to its quality.

Though most Blaze Pizza restaurants are equipped with similar, upbeat, orange decor, this Blaze Pizza is unique to its location. If the interior cardinal and gold decor or USC logo were not convincing enough, Blaze Pizza does not shy away from its Trojan pride. In fact, the restaurant plans to engage with USC beyond providing the ideal meal.

Among this restaurant’s vision is an plan to give back to the community. When asked about future goals for this particular restaurant, Neubauer revealed plans to play an active role with on-campus organizations in plans of benefiting others.

“We definitely want to be connected with the school as much as we can,” Neubauer said. “We try to get in with school organizations. We want to start fundraisers where we give 20 percent back to any organizations that come in and set up with us.”

Blaze Pizza’s customer satisfaction efforts might not always be easy, but the intentions and ambition for Blaze Pizza to give back seem difficult to match and ultimately set the restaurant apart from other off-campus dining options.

“It is all about saying ‘yes’ to the guests; we don’t ever want to say no. It’s all about making the guests smile. We just want to be really friendly and make sure that everyone does say ‘thank you’ because it sure does go a long way,” said Neubauer.

Blaze Pizza is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. from Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday. The restaurant is located at 3335 S. Figueroa St, in the University Gateway building near CVS.

“Give us a chance,” Neubauer suggests. From its promotion to Neubauer’s enthusiasm, Blaze Pizza seems just as happy to immerse itself within the Trojan family as Trojans are happy about its opening.