Chipotle-Funded Pizza Concept Will Expand to Cincinnati

Pizzeria Locale, a venture between the multi-billion dollar burrito chain Chipotle and Colorado restaurateurs Bobby Stuckey and Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson, is expanding to a third state: Ohio. The Neapolitan-style pizzeria, which opened originally in Boulder, Colo. and then expanded to Denver, recently announced its first foray outside of Colorado this past January when it revealed it was opening a restaurant in Kansas City.

Now, according to Cincinnati.com, the quick-service pizza parlor will expand to a location in the Kenwood Mall in Ohio's third-largest city. The pizza restaurant focuses on providing interactive toppings-selection experience, followed by a two-minute cooking time in one of the parlor's custom-made high-temperature ovens.

The joint venture between Pizzeria Locale and Chipotle was seen by some as a surprise left turn by Stuckey and Mackinnon-Patterson, who are James Beard-award winning chefs. The expansion of Pizzeria Locale is following closely in the steps of how Chipotle first expanded — by design, it would seem. The strategy, which worked stunningly well for Chipotle founder Steve Ellis, was to initially eschew America's major metropolises and, instead, build fervent and loyal fan bases in small- and mid-sized cities. Ellis created the first Chipotle in Colorado in 1993. Chipotle's first restaurant outside of Colorado was opened in Kansas City; Pizzeria Locale is doing the same.