A new fast-casual pizza chain is rolling into town.
And its plan for expansion is nearly as impressive as the time it takes to make a pizza.
Uncle Maddio’s Pizza can make you a nine-inch pizza in six minutes, and the franchisees plan to open as many as five locations in Sarasota County within the next five years.
Uncle Maddio’s is the pizza cousin of Moe’s Southwest Grill, and both chains fall under the Integrity Brands corporate umbrella.
The create-your-own pizza chain offers three different crusts, six different sauces and more than 45 meat, cheese and veggie toppings.
They also boast an entirely gluten free and a vegan pizza — and yes, that does include the cheese.
The first location opened on Saturday in North Port, and now the owners are scouting out sites in Venice, along University Parkway and in the Stickney Point Road area. The franchisees could eventually open as many as 10 Uncle Maddio’s in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties. Another franchisee recently purchased the rights to open in the Tampa Bay area.
Uncle Maddio’s Pizza joints are expected to blanket Florida in just a few years.
Unravel tried out the chain on Thursday before the grand opening.
Top left: Maggie with her salad and anxiously awaiting her pizza. Top right: The Greek pizza. Bottom left: Maggie’s meat-filled pizza. Bottom right: Delicious dessert in the form of a cannoli and cookies. Photos by Rachel S. O’Hara
It’ll be about a year before we see an Uncle Maddio’s in Sarasota itself, but here are a few things to look forward to:
- Want pizza and beer? Cool. They have a beer and wine license.
- Beyond pizza, they also sell “foldwiches” which are like a pizza-esq panini.
- I’m still dreaming about the chocolate chip cookie they gave me last night.
- You can create-your-own pizza, or you can pull from their line-up of specialty pizzas — buffalo chicken, Jamaican jerk, southwest baja, etc.
- Looking for something a little less traditional than a pepperoni pizza? They’ve got a few bizarre ingredients like chicken apple sausage, grilled tofu, goat cheese and black bean corn salsa.
- Unravel’s resident vegetarian Rachel O’Hara didn’t have a problem finding something she wanted to eat. She seemed pretty pleased with the Greek pizza and salad she ordered.
- We ordered and finished our meal in less time than it would have taken most pizzas to bake.
Uncle Maddio’s joins Sarasota’s booming market of fast-casual dining options.
Blaze Pizza, Fuzzy’s Tacos and Chicken Kitchen are among SRQ’s other new arrivals. BurgerFi and Pollo Tropical are expected to open in the area later this year.
