Most Americans of a certain age have a certain mental image of dining at a pizzeria in the 1990s. In a world where it seems every pizza brand is trying to decrease footprints and focus on DELCO sales, Crust Pizza Co. is cutting in the opposite direction. And CEO Carl Comeaux is not shy about naming the giant brand it wants to emulate.
“We want to be known as the local Southeast pizzeria that brings back the ‘90s Pizza Hut experience,” Comeaux said, “where you’re enjoying pizza on a Friday night in an establishment surrounded by family and friends.”
Crust Pizza Co., which claims 27 locations scattered across the Houston metro area, Louisiana and more, sells Chicago tavern-style pizza at each location. The thin-crust pies are cut into rectangles and shared at a table or taken to go: Despite an emphasis on the dine-in experience, about 50% of Crust Pizza Co.’s orders are takeout.
Crust Pizza Co.’s service model is a blend of full-service and quick-service: Orders are taken at a cash register but delivered to a table. When the diners are finished eating, Crust team members bus the table and turn it over.
Pivotally, Comeaux adds, Crust serves its pizza with actual plates, silverware and napkins. “We’re not serving anything disposable to you,” Comeaux said. “So the service experience doesn’t have that fast-casual service feel.”
The limited-service model helps Crust with staffing as it expands. While it can be challenging, given the current labor landscape, to convince servers to work for low hourly wages and the prospect of tips, Crust Pizza Co. pays its team members a competitive hourly rate and tips out every non-manager in the restaurant, according to Comeaux.
“The dishwasher is getting the same tip pool as the runners and the pizza makers,” Comeaux said. “So everybody is incentivized to make sure that the customer has a good experience from the food quality to the service.”
Crust was founded in 2011 by childhood friends Mark Raspberry and Clint Price. The first Crust pizzeria opened in The Woodlands, Texas—a suburb of Houston—and quickly became a local favorite. The idea of franchising the brand first came from Comeaux, who had met Raspberry and Price when he was running a separate franchise, Main Squeeze Juice Co., and was impressed by how different Crust felt from other modern pizzerias.
“I was struck by their genuine passion for bringing back that nostalgic experience that we all cherished growing up,” Comeaux said. “Their commitment to quality and creating a warm, inviting atmosphere where families could gather and have great pizza was truly inspiring to me. It was clear to me from the start that Crust Pizza had the potential to stand out in the crowded pizza market, not just as another restaurant, but as a place where memories are made.”
At first, Comeaux tried talking Raspberry and Price into letting him open a Crust Pizza Co. location in Lake Charles, Louisiana—where Comeaux makes his home—but the owners didn’t feel the market matched the demographics they were searching for. Comeaux moved on to looking at bringing a different pizza concept to Lake Charles when, at the proverbial 11th hour, Raspberry and Price began having second thoughts. Suddenly, they were the ones pitching Comeaux on opening a Crust in Lake Charles.
When Comeaux and his business partner did finally open up a Crust Pizza Co., the store was an overnight success. It was so successful, in fact, that Raspberry and Price approached Comeaux with a new idea: take over as CEO and help drive growth via franchising. Not only did Comeaux have experience scaling Main Squeeze Juice Company, but he’d scaled brands in the fitness and phone repair industries as well.
Upon taking over as CEO, Comeaux saw some low-hanging fruit that would help accelerate franchising growth in the Crust Pizza Co. system. For one, he right-sized the menu. There had previously been over 60 items on the menu, which felt overwhelming to franchisees, guests and staff alike. He also saw an opportunity to create an in-house tech stack to facilitate a frictionless experience for team members and guests.
“It was also important to me to strengthen the culture within our team, ensuring that every employee felt connected to our mission of delivering an exceptional dining experience,” Comeaux said.
Thanks to many of these changes, Crust Pizza Co. now boasts a $1.65 million average unit volume, Comeaux said. He’s determined to push that figure above $2 million and to continue to scale the brand at a rapid pace. This year alone the brand plans to open 10 more locations, with 15 slated for 2025 and another 20 or so scheduled for 2026. The ultimate goal is to be adding about 25 stores per year. For those scoring at home, if that came true, Crust would eclipse 100 locations in the next five years or so.
“As we continue to grow, my focus remains on preserving the essence of what makes Crust Pizza Co. unique—that nostalgic, family-friendly atmosphere where quality and community come first,” Comeaux said. “Our expansion is about more than just opening new locations; it’s about sharing the Crust experience with more people while staying true to the values that have brought us this far. The future is bright, and I’m excited to see where this journey takes us.”
