---
title: "What Blaze Pizza really needs to focus on"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/8628854b-aa82-4e44-9743-5eb13f7e53a0
source: "Restaurant Business"
original_url: https://restaurantbusinessonline.com/operations/what-blaze-pizza-really-needs-focus
category: "Pizza"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Pizza"
published: 2026-08-28T17:54:33.000Z
modified: 2026-10-31T14:43:45.317Z
image: https://cdn.informaconnect.com/platform/files/public/2026-08/background/Blaze-Pizza.png?VersionId=LAySnwImlzMGCZc6oN9uOIS_tAPk29QC
---

# What Blaze Pizza really needs to focus on

**TL;DR:** Blaze Pizza is experiencing a decline in sales and location count, with a 12.4% sales fall and 13.5% location closure in 2025, and needs to focus on key areas such as brand familiarity and operations to turn the business around. The company has recently revamped its C-suite, including the appointment of a new CMO, Tracy Stockard, and COO, Jaime Denney.

*originally published in Restaurant Business on 2026-08-28. [Read the original](https://restaurantbusinessonline.com/operations/what-blaze-pizza-really-needs-focus).*

## Story

Two years ago I flew down to Disney Springs for an event that was supposed to kick off a new era for Blaze Pizza. There were new menu items, a new charity initiative, and a genuine buzz and excitement about the brand from executives and franchisees alike.

Two years later, half of the executives I met with that day are no longer with the company, which is in a bit of a free fall.

According to Technomic Ignite data, in 2025, Blaze’s sales fell 12.4%, and the chain closed 13.5% of its locations. Granted, it was a bad year for pizza all around, as it was the only segment that lost sales in the Top 500 overall with a 0.3% dip. But Blaze had a particularly bad year, topped in its segment only by Pieology’s 26.5% sales decline.

So, what does the Blaze team really need to do to turn this ship around? The answer may be less flashy than expected.

According to Technomic Ignite Consumer Brand Ratings data, brand familiarity sits at just 18%, which feels low for a national brand. (A similar-sized brand with locations in just one state is also sitting at 18%).

Blaze also ranks low on “has advertising that makes me hungry,” but luckily on both those counts, the chain has a new CMO as of this week. Tracy Stockard has experience in the industry at both Steak n Shake and McDonald’s, which, for the record, has 87% brand familiarity.

Operations is another area to focus on: Blaze ranks well among consumers overall compared with other limited-service pizza chains, but struggles comparatively with order accuracy and takeout capabilities. That last one is particularly worrisome for a pizza brand — but also seems like a relatively straightforward fix with the right operations in place.

As I mentioned, Blaze is revamping the C-suite; COO Jaime Denney came over from Scooter’s Coffee last year (talk about takeout capabilities). The company also has a relatively new CEO, and a new financial chief, both as of 2026.

And the team is really off to the races. Just today, after I was already working on this very column, Blaze announced its first-ever kids menu — smart, given that 48.4% of Blaze’s consumers are millennials. Maybe they can wrangle in those Gen Alphas we talked about last week.

I sure hope so. I’m rooting for a return of that energy I felt at the Disney Springs flagship back in 2024.

Leigh Anne Zinsmeister is a managing editor for Informa’s Foodservice Media, encompassing Restaurant Business, Nation's Restaurant News, and Foodservice Director.

## Entities

- QSR (sector)
- McDonald's (company)
- brand growth (topic)
- marketing strategy (topic)
- Restaurant Business (publication)
- Scooter's Coffee (company)
- Blaze Pizza (company)
- Pieology Pizza (company)
- sales decline (topic)
- Steak 'n Shake (company)
- Technomic Ignite (company)
- Leigh Anne Zinsmeister (person)

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Originally reported by Restaurant Business (https://restaurantbusinessonline.com/operations/what-blaze-pizza-really-needs-focus). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/8628854b-aa82-4e44-9743-5eb13f7e53a0).