When I first experienced a made-to-order pizza, one where I fully customized my pie and watched it get built, then put into the oven, I thought the concept would upend the takeout pizza market.
Very successful for a while, the concept later fell victim to what I think of as “self-serve frozen yogurt syndrome.” It’s when a good idea gets duplicated and diluted to the point that even the strongest brands struggle.
That’s what happened to the make-your-own-pizza model made popular by chains like Blaze, Pieology, and Mod. These companies pioneered the fast-casual, made-to-order pizza business, but that’s not something you can own, leading some markets to become crowded with more competing concepts than consumer demand could support.
“You go back 10 years ago, and there was no fast-casual pizza. And now you see this complete saturation in the market,” Todd Madlener, vice president of operations for Coolgreens, told QSR Magazine.
It’s a situation that has hit Mod Pizza hard, as the chain has been contracting since 2024 and has continued to close restaurants. Now its footprint, which once topped 575 locations, is only 439, according to the restaurant locator page on its website.
Mod Pizza has struggled
In 2024, Mod Pizza faced questions about its survival.
The chain, however, did find a savior.
“Mod Pizza is getting a lifeline — and its agreement to be bought by Elite Restaurant Group, could help it stave off filing for bankruptcy,” according to Quartz.
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In July 2024, The Wall Street Journal, citing individuals with knowledge of the situation, said the chain was searching for a buyer to help it secure alternative financing.
The financial terms of that deal were not disclosed.
Before its financial struggles, Mod was a strong growth story. The company, founded in 2008, ended 2023 with 553 restaurants after years of steady growth.
“Through that growth, Mod even considered an IPO in 2021, though that market debut never happened,” Nation’s Restaurant News reported. “At that time, the company was still riding momentum from a 2019 $160 million equity investment, which sparked the company’s goal to reach approximately 1,000 locations by 2024.”
In 2024, the company had not shaken off the impact of the Covid pandemic.
Before the company reached the deal with Elite, it had closed 44 restaurants. Elite has purchased a number of distressed restaurant/food chains, including Marie Callender’s and cupcake chain Gigi’s Cupcakes.
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Pizza for one may be the problem
RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino sees the make-your-own pizza concept as flawed, because pizza isn’t like frozen yogurt.
“Pizza is a group activity while yogurt’s individual. You’re going to want to individualize your own yogurt to your liking. Pizza, on the other hand, generally speaking, you’re ordering a whole pie of this or that,” he told TheStreet.
Having your own pizza isn’t part of the traditional experience, he added, which may explain why demand has not grown to meet the number of restaurants.
“And we kind of have also societal norms of what we like. Everyone likes pepperoni. Everyone likes pineapple or not, or hates pineapple, but we all have our own set preferences as opposed to yogurt, which doesn’t,” he shared.
Mod has not officially made a mass closure announcement since 2024, but the chain continues to shrink.
“Along with the Reston closure, MOD’s Ashburn, Virginia, store shut its doors for good in January, also after 10 years. That was followed by the closure of an eight-year-old location near Chantilly, Virginia, in February. (In the latter case, the restaurant’s landlord had reportedly opted not to renew its lease,” PMQ Pizza, a pizza industry trade magazine, reported.
Those weren’t the only recent closures.
“Additionally, a MOD store in Vienna, Virginia, closed in April 2025, preceded by a closure in Herndon about a year before that,” the site added. “Owensboro, Kentucky, lost a MOD store in April…Additionally, three MOD stores closed shop in the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, area in March.
Mod is not alone in its struggles
In addition to Mod’s closures, another once-promising fast-casual, make-your-own Pizza Chain, Pieology, has seen its footprint cut dramatically. These chains, which were supposed to take business from chains like Pizza Hut, Domino’s, and Papa John’s, may not be a threat to the pizza establishment they once seemed to be.
Pieology launched its business in 2011 and grew to about 200 locations by 2020. The pizza chain had reduced the number of its restaurants to 45 locations by Dec. 15, 2025, Franchise Times reported.
In addition, Pieology’s parent company, The Little Brown Box Pizza LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Dec. 8, 2025, to reorganize its business, facing financial challenges, according to court documents on Pacer Monitor.
That court case remains open, according to Bankruptcy Observer.
Another pioneer in the space, Blaze Pizza, has also been getting smaller.
“The brand has struggled with a shrinking store count recently, shedding 30 units in 2024 and 36 in 2025. It started this year with 230 locations, according to its franchise disclosure document,” Restaurant Dive reported.
The broader pizza segment has also struggled.
In 2024, Technomic’s Top 500 Restaurants data showed 61% of pizza chains experienced declining sales, according to Nation’s Restaurant News, which publishes the Top 500 list.
That downturn added pressure to a fast-casual pizza category already dealing with increased competition and a shrinking store base.
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