--- title: "Pizza Inn, Pie Five fall short of first quarter expectations" url: https://burnaze.com/article/7e353149-bf7a-4aed-85cb-5baa1c2b4dcc source: "Nation's Restaurant News" original_url: https://www.nrn.com/restaurant-finance/pizza-inn-pie-five-fall-short-of-first-quarter-expectations author: "Alicia Kelso" category: "Restaurants" industry: "Restaurants" published: 2026-11-12T14:43:14.000Z modified: 2026-11-13T00:01:56.702Z image: https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/bltea7aee2fca050a19/bltc21a8c4321942dbb/6af5d0fba30b4905de8aa977/Pie_Five_front-resized.jpg?disable=upscale&width=1200&height=630&fit=crop --- # Pizza Inn, Pie Five fall short of first quarter expectations **TL;DR:** Rave Restaurant Group, parent company of Pizza Inn and Pie Five Pizza Co., reported first quarter 2027 results this week, including -4.2% same-store sales for Pizza Inn’s domestic system, and… *By Alicia Kelso, originally published in Nation's Restaurant News on 2026-11-12. [Read the original](https://www.nrn.com/restaurant-finance/pizza-inn-pie-five-fall-short-of-first-quarter-expectations).* ## Story Rave Restaurant Group, parent company of Pizza Inn and Pie Five Pizza Co., reported first quarter 2027 results this week, including -4.2% same-store sales for Pizza Inn’s domestic system, and -18.2% same-store sales for Pie Five. Pizza Inn lapped 8.1% from the same period a year ago, when the chain rolled out an $8 value promotion for its buffet. Pie Five lapped -9.1% for a two-year stack of -27.3%. In a statement, CEO Brandon Solano said the quarterly results didn’t meet expectations as the chains “faced challenging macroeconomic pressures.” “While we are not satisfied with the comparable store sales results at either Pie Five or Pizza Inn in the first quarter, we maintain confidence in our long-term strategy and have initiatives in place designed to sequentially improve Pizza Inn comparable store and total sales moving forward,” he said. New product innovation is coming in December, for instance, with advertising dollars earmarked to support the launch. Pizza Inn also added a new buffet store in South Carolina in the first quarter, and another in Georgia to start the second quarter. However, a 10-unit development deal reported in September is not expected to come fully to fruition within the anticipated timeline “due to recent events with the multi-brand operator,” Solano said. Pizza Inn closed out the first quarter with 86 domestic locations, including 81 buffet locations. The company ended 2025 with 96 locations, according to Technomic, marking an 8.6% decrease from the end of 2024. Pizza Inn international finished the quarter at 18 units. Meanwhile, Pie Five’s quarterly loss widened throughout the past seven quarters, with the last positive quarter being Q2 2024. The chain finished the quarter with 13 locations. According to Technomic data, Pie Five’s 2025 sales fell by 33.2%, while its unit count fell by 15% to finish last year with 17 locations. Solano recently said he anticipates more unit decreases “in future periods.” Following its 2011 debut in Fort Worth, Texas, Pie Five peaked in 2017 with 84 units. Pizza Inn and Pie Five’s recent challenges reflect the broader pizza category, which experienced negative sales in 2025. Fast-casual pizza concepts have struggled even more; Blaze Pizza’s sales fell 9.6% year-over-year in 2025, while MOD Pizza was down 10.6%, and Pieology Pizza was -26.5%. On the positive side for Rave, the company recorded net income of $0.7 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2027, a 3.1% increase from the same period of the prior year. Total revenue increased by $0.1 million to $3.3 million, marking a 3.4% increase. Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization) was $0.8 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2027, unchanged from the same period of the prior year. Cash and short-term investments totaled $14.8 million on Sept. 27. In a statement, Chief Financial Officer Jay Rooney said the company strengthened its balance sheet during the first quarter, with cash generated from operating activities exceeding $1.1 million, building combined cash and short-term asset balance to over $14.8 million. “With no debt, a $2.9 million deferred tax asset, and a high level of liquidity we have built solid current financial strength and have given ourselves flexibility for the future,” Rooney said. Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected] Follow her on TikTok: @aliciakelso ## Entities - Restaurants (sector) - franchise (topic) - Pizza Inn (company) - Pie Five Pizza (company) - performance (topic) - quarterly (topic) --- Originally reported by Alicia Kelso, Nation's Restaurant News (https://www.nrn.com/restaurant-finance/pizza-inn-pie-five-fall-short-of-first-quarter-expectations). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/7e353149-bf7a-4aed-85cb-5baa1c2b4dcc).