Garlic Jim's Famous Gourmet Pizza Franchise thriving in Washington State

By: Garlic Jims | 6 Shares 361 Reads

EVERETT, WA (May 2007) – Garlic Jim's Famous Gourmet Pizza®, the first and only "gourmet" carry-out and delivery pizza chain, is taking the industry by storm, further expanding into the Washington market. With 25 opened locations, including the new, first of many, Garlic Jim's bistro sit down restaurant in West Seattle Junction, franchisees are experiencing phenomenal growth and success in the chain's home state.

"We've had exceptional growth in Washington, which will only continue with our projected expansion into the southeastern part of the state," says David Gollersrud, vice president of development for Garlic Jim's Famous Gourmet Pizza. "We've slated 6-10 stores for the Spokane and Tri-Cities areas and hope to have stores open by 2008."

With an already established commissary system to ensure only the freshest products and ingredients are used in every store, the projected southeastern expansion will be rapid, but calculated. Garlic Jim's is interested in finding local partners to franchise and help grow the Garlic Jim's brand throughout Spokane, and the Tri-Cities of Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland, and their surrounding areas.

Since Garlic Jim's was founded in December 2003 by a talented group of professionals with extensive backgrounds in the pizza industry, it has gained national notoriety and experienced rapid national expansion. Pizza Marketplace, an informational portal serving the vertical pizzeria industry, recently named Garlic Jim's as one of only four pizza chains to watch for in 2007.

2007 has already been a busy year for Garlic Jim's. January 18, 2007, brought the announcement of a new 25-store sub-franchise agreement for the Denver, Colorado area. On February 6, 2007, Garlic Jim's opened their first franchise for the Golden state in Valencia, California. A week later, on February 13, the Lakewood, Washington location held their grand opening, joining an already prosperous Washington market. Tampa-based L&D Ventures announced a 100-store sub-franchise agreement for Florida and Puerto Rico on March 1, 2007, followed closely with the first Garlic Jim's bistro opening in the West Seattle Junction at the end of the same month. May brings the grand opening of the Snoqualmie, WA store.

ABOUT GARLIC JIMS

Garlic Jim's Famous Gourmet Pizza is proud to be the first pizza franchise to focus on quick delivery pizza made fresh with gourmet toppings. Garlic Jim's in-store system and team member training allows them to make pizza in 20 minutes or less "from order to out the door," thus pioneering the concept "Gourmet, Right Away."

At Garlic Jim's the term 'gourmet' signifies more than just the finished pizza – it refers to the finest ingredients: fresh packed sauces, fresh 100% whole-milk mozzarella and fresh dough made daily, where the customer can certainly taste the difference. Garlic Jim's offers customers two crust choices; hand-thrown thick crust, made with parmesan cheese and buttermilk, or garlic thin; four cheese options: 100% whole-milk mozzarella, cheddar, feta and parmesan; seven sauces: classic red, garlic basil, basil pesto, zesty chipotle pesto, creamy ranch, smoky sweet BBQ or fresh basil and olive oil, and a variety of meats, vegetables and gourmet toppings such as roasted garlic, marinated artichoke hearts, corn salsa and sun-dried tomatoes.

With gourmet pizzas such as Nutty Chipotle™, zesty chipotle pesto topped with spicy sausage, pepperoni, red onions, tomatoes and cashews, Jim's Gourmet Garlic™, basil pesto sauce, marinated artichoke hearts, roasted garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and feta cheese, and Chicken Bacon Ranch, grilled chicken, bacon, cheddar cheese, tomatoes, red onions and creamy ranch sauce, Garlic Jim's is putting a new spin on pizza. "We've gone out of our way to source the best ingredients available to create our specialty pizzas and as a result we also have the best tasting pepperoni pizza you will ever find," says Northrop.

Garlic Jim's has grown from two open stores in 2004 to 36 open stores and 93 franchises sold in 2006. In addition to current locations in Oregon, Arizona, California, Pennsylvania and Washington, Garlic Jim's has stores under development in New Jersey, Colorado, Florida, Tennessee and Texas. With projections of doubling in size in 2007, Garlic Jim's is sure to become the fastest growing gourmet pizza franchise in the country. For more information on Garlic Jim's pizza and franchising, visit their website at www.garlicjims.com, or call 866-918-jims (5467).