Zalat Pizza to Develop into Austin Subsequent Month
Zalat Pizza, the Dallas-based pizza chain featured in PMQ’s March 2022 problem, will open its first location in Austin, Texas, subsequent month, the corporate has introduced.
The Austin retailer, coming in late March, will mark the twenty ninth unit for the Texas model based by Khahn Nguyen, who arrived within the U.S. in 1975 as a refugee on the finish of the Vietnam conflict. He based Zalat in 2015. As a part of its enterprise mannequin and growth plan, Zalat presents its staff a spread of advantages, together with medical health insurance and a 401(okay) in addition to inventory choices.
The brand new Zalat retailer shall be positioned within the coronary heart of West Campus at 2222 Rio Grande Road. A second Austin location, positioned in North Austin at 10515 MoPac Expressway, will open in late spring, the corporate mentioned, with extra places to be introduced.
Nguyen graduated from the College of Texas Regulation Faculty in 1994. “Like all UT graduates, I cherished my years in class right here and have been eagerly wanting ahead to Zalat’s growth to Austin,” he mentioned. “We obtain fixed requests to open Zalat places in Austin from UT college students and Austinites who moved from Dallas or Houston and want their Zalat Pizza repair. We will’t wait to convey them a style of residence.”
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Zalat Pizza, he added, is “identified for our distinctive pizza designs, staying open till 4 a.m. on weekends, and sharing the wealth with our frontline workforce with worker inventory choices, all traits that we hope shall be in sync with how Austin rolls.”
As Nguyen explains, “We’d like our Zealots [the company’s name for its employees] to be utterly dedicated to the product as a result of each pizza is handmade. In return, we’re utterly dedicated to their future with the corporate and hope to make our frontline employees rich by way of inventory possibility possession. We would like all our Zealots to have a bit of the pie.”
As a UT alumnus, Nguyen has a deep love for Austin and spent a number of years dwelling within the metropolis. “Our model might be described as superior high quality with an informal vibe,” Nguyen continued. “We all know how informal Austin is, however the native commonplace of wonderful meals remains to be a excessive benchmark. We embody these values by serving superior meals with out pretense.”
Zalat Pizza prides itself on providing handmade, New York-style pizza high quality at excessive quantity. Its mannequin forgoes the comfort of conveyor belt ovens that the majority pizza chains use and trains the staff to handmake and prepare dinner pizzas in conventional deck ovens. The result’s extra labor-intensive however yields what the corporate describes as “an ideal stability of crispy and chewy pizza crust.”
Zalat is thought for its irreverent tackle conventional pizza flavors, equivalent to its Nashville Scorching Rooster & Pickles, Pho Shizzle, and Elote pizzas, whereas additionally providing staples just like the Pepperoni Masterclass and Zealot Supreme.
The primary Zalat opened on Fitzhugh Avenue in 2015 and rapidly turned a favourite late-night pizzeria in Dallas. The idea was embraced by each prospects and critics and rapidly grew to twenty-eight places throughout Dallas and Houston. The company-owned chain was named one of many Prime 100 Eating places by the Dallas Observer and one among QSR Journal’s Prime 40/40 Ideas. In 2021, it was chosen for Nation’s Restaurant Information’ Scorching Ideas Award in 2021, introduced to growth-stage restaurant manufacturers which are predicted to “turn out to be family names.”
