MOD Pizza To Be Acquired By Elite Restaurant Group

MOD Super Fast Pizza LLC has agreed to be acquired by Elite Restaurant Group. Terms were not disclosed.

Bellevue-based MOD was founded in 2008 and until recently had been on a growth tear. It now operates more than 500 locations across the United States and Canada, but had reportedly closed more than two dozen this year. Bloomberg reported last week that MOD may have been nearing a bankruptcy filing. It had also reportedly stopped paying vendors.

Trade publication Nation’s Restaurant News reports that Chatsworth, Calif.-based Elite has a history of acquiring struggling restaurant brands, though it’s unclear if any operate in Washington state except perhaps Patxi’s Pizza, which has a location in Ballard. It’s not clear whether Elite still owns Patxi’s.

MOD was founded in 2008 by Scott and Ally Svenson, who had previously founded and sold both Seattle Coffee Co. and Carluccio’s Ltd., an Italian restaurant chain. Last January, the chain appointed restaurant veteran Beth Scott as its new CEO.

In May 2019, the chain announced that it had received a $160 million equity financing round and set a target for 1,000 locations. It said in a release that it had $398 million in sales at the time, and had added 218 locations in 2018. It also said it had raised approximately $339 million worth of equity.