About Me
Well, its all about the pie and it took a man with a dream and a desire to make the world's greatest pizza to create the great restaurant that we know today as Gatti's.Mr. Gatti's was founded by Colonel James R. Eure. He began his original pizza operation in Stephenville, Texas in September of 1964. In 1968, Colonel Eure moved to Austin and opened the first pizza store there in September of 1969. The first store opened under the name of "The Pizza Place" and was located on South Congress in a remodeled U-Totem store.By the time Colonel Eure reached Austin, he had developed a secret recipe for making pizza like no other. As a perfectionist, he continued to improve his pizza and formulated his recipe for success. He used higher quality ingredients like rich provolone cheese instead of mozzarella or imitation cheeses that are "made from real cheese." He worked long and hard to develop quality yeast-risen dough that would meet his strict standards. Every day, Colonel Eure mixed fresh dough carefully before adding his tangy, secret recipe pizza sauce. He topped his creation with garden-fresh vegetables and the finest pepperoni, ham and sausage slices.
He had a dream and he followed it through, keeping a close watch every step of the way. And that same spirit, that same attention to detail went into every menu item. This commitment to quality earned Colonel Eure the right to call Mr. Gatti's, "The Best Pizza In Town." This was Colonel Eure's legacy, and the most important contribution to the success of Mr. Gatti's, as our customers can always count on a special tasting pizza.
Soon Colonel Eure could see that he needed to expand, as people kept coming back and ordering more. By 1974, Mr. Gatti's had grown to 13 stores in and around Austin. Even though the company was successful, it did not have a distinct image or brand. The next step was to find the best name for the best pizza. A corporate identification program was undertaken and after careful research and study, Colonel Eure discovered the best name was one of his favorites - his wife's maiden name, Gatti. It was a good Italian name that was catchy and easy to remember. The result provided instant identification and the image grew to be "The Best Pizza In Town."In 1974, a group of investors acquired Mr. Gatti's from Colonel Eure. Working with Colonel Eure, they continued to grow the enterprise, establishing the first franchise store in Cedar Park, Texas, while maintaining the attention to quality to insure product flavor and consistency. The team created a new look for Mr. Gatti's - a contemporary restaurant design with a warm, cozy atmosphere.The team continued to search for franchisees that had the same entrepreneurial spirit as Colonel Eure, people who were ready and willing to partner with the company and grow the system. Sophisticated multiple unit franchisees have added to the company's knowledge of the restaurant industry. The search for additional multiple unit franchisees continues today.In May of 1978, L.D. Brinkman acquired Mr. Gatti's. Brinkman saw in Mr. Gatti's the same spirit he had brought to his own publicly-traded carpet and flooring business, the L.D. Brinkman Company.
Through an ever-changing restaurant industry, Mr. Gatti's has evolved conceptually beyond being "The Best Pizza In Town." This evolution has brought about many changes to the basic Mr. Gatti's. In the early 1980's, the company enhanced its traditional dine-in "order from the menu" concept to include a buffet concept. Now known as the "All You Care-To-Eat Buffet," this format enabled Mr. Gatti's to position its quality product as an affordable alternative to "generic" fast food establishments. Mr. Gatti's "All You Care-To-Eat Buffet" consists of a wide variety of pizzas, pasta, salad bars and desserts. Pick-up and delivery stores or "Gatti's-To-Go" were developed to provide the same great pizza to our customers at their homes or offices.In the late 1980's, a key transformation occurred as Mr. Gatti's stores began to integrate family-oriented entertainment with the quality buffet concept by adding small game rooms to existing facilities. From 1990 to 1996, the company continued to refine and develop this Gattiland "Eatertainment" concept by designing larger facilities to include party rooms and separate, specialized dining areas. Gattiland was designed for mid-sized trade areas.Building on the positive results at Gattiland, the company modified the original "Eatertainment" concept by developing the larger Gattitown facility. The superstore serves as the flagship format of the company and targets areas with populations of 250,000 or greater. It has a footprint of a minimum of 30,000 sq. ft. and a 15,000 sq. ft. Midway game room. The enhanced game room combines carnival type arcade games with bumper cars, high tech video games and virtual reality games. Games of skill award points; which can be redeemed for prizes at the redemption center. The games are played with an electronic debit card called the redemption card which tracks points and enhances the frequency of play.The "Eatertainment" concept provides dramatic enhancements to the company's traditional "All You Care to Eat" buffet facility. Dining areas include a quiet space for relaxed dining, and a Fun Flix Video Room containing cartoons and nostalgic comedy shown on large screens, TV rooms for viewing sports events and other favorite programs, and private rooms which can be reserved for birthday celebrations, business meetings or social functions. These concepts create a destination for families, emphasized by creating a smoke-free, alcohol-free environment, which excludes games that depict excessive violence. Once customers have purchased a buffet, they have access to the game rooms and the redemption centers that contain a vast selection of prizes to encourage repeat business and frequency of play.On November 15, 2004, Blue Sage Capital acquired Mr. Gatti's from Brinkman. Blue Sage is a private equity investment firm based in Austin, Texas. Blue Sage was founded to invest with management in proven, middle market growth companies in the Southwest. Mr. Gatti's, with its commitment to quality and service, its team of qualified and talented employees, its enduring brand and its profitable track record, is a prototypical investment for Blue Sage. With its legacy entrusted to Blue Sage, Mr. Gatti's looks to the future with expectations for well-managed expansion.Despite the changes in ownership since 1964, Mr. Gatti's, to this day, has never compromised on quality, and still uses 100% smoked provolone cheese, the finest meats from Hormel, yeast-risen pizza dough prepared, mixed and baked fresh daily and Colonel Eure's specially formulated pizza sauce recipe.Currently there are about 150 stores located across eight states in the Southwest and Midwest, 28 company owned and 122 franchised owned. Of these locations, 105 are similar to the "Gattitown Eatertainment" and "Gatti's-To-Go" facilities.V4.4
