---
title: "Fast Casual: Blaze 'brings it on home' for CEO Mizes in the Gateway City"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/e296da81-118f-47c8-a59a-b8d16381ed23
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/fast-casual-blaze-brings-it-on-home-for-ceo-mizes-in-the-gateway-city-2705862
category: "Pizza"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Pizza"
topics: ["People"]
published: 2018-03-09T11:06:37.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T04:10:35.195Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/fbc852e88a62ce0a0740bd7b2f6f11f86498.jpg
---

# Fast Casual: Blaze 'brings it on home' for CEO Mizes in the Gateway City

**TL;DR:** Blaze Pizza is opening its first location in St. Louis, Missouri, as part of the brand's expansion efforts, with CEO Jim Mizes bringing the brand to his hometown. The location will offer a specialty pizza called Red Bird pie, referencing the town's MLB team, the Cardinals.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2018-03-09. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/fast-casual-blaze-brings-it-on-home-for-ceo-mizes-in-the-gateway-city-2705862).*

## Story

Jim Mizes, President and CEO of Blaze Pizza, grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. According to a recent article in Fast Casual, his hometown will soon celebrate the opening of its first Blaze location. The opening, slated for March 9th, will take place in Kirkwood, an area not far from where Mizes called home.

"We strive for each restaurant to be service-focused, extending a level of hospitality that many in and around St. Louis may feel no longer exists. I'm looking forward to bringing that unique experience back to my hometown," he said.

Those who attend the opening are in for a treat. The brand will be giving away a free build-you-own pizza to each customer who visits between specified hours and follows its social media pages.

Blaze will be paying homage to the location by using a variety of local ingredients as well as offering a specialty pizza called Red Bird pie. This unique offering is a reference to the town's MLB team, the Cardinals.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- unit expansion (topic)
- brand expansion (topic)
- FastCasual (publication)
- menu items (topic)
- Blaze Pizza (company)
- st louis (location)
- local ingredients (topic)

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Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/fast-casual-blaze-brings-it-on-home-for-ceo-mizes-in-the-gateway-city-2705862). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/e296da81-118f-47c8-a59a-b8d16381ed23).