&pizza CEO Mike Burns on cutting prices and playing the long game
Take-Away with Sam Oches
Nation's Restaurant News
4.9 • 17 Ratings
🗓️ 4 November 2025
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches, Sam talks with Mike Burns, CEO of &pizza, a fast-casual pizza joint based in Washington D.C. that has grown to 45 locations. &pizza made headlines earlier this year when it announced it would buck the trend and cut its menu prices, offering unlimited free toppings with its $12 personal-sized pizzas rather than charging for toppings. Mike joined the podcast to share how &pizza is staying profitable with this change and why it’s an especially important strategy as the brand franchises for the first time.
In this conversation, you’ll find out why:
- With operations and marketing tweaks, sleepy brands can come alive
- Even in this economy, you have to strategize in years, not months
- Cutting price today isn’t a gimmick, it’s a volume play
- Your most important customer is the returning customer
- Buy the dip on today’s economy
Have feedback or ideas for Take-Away? Email Sam at sam.oches@informa.com.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode is brought to you by Tabasco. |
| 0:03.0 | With its vibrant blend of spice, subtle kick of heat, and unique garlicy twang, |
| 0:08.0 | Tabasco salsa Picante was rated superior to leading Mexican-style hot sauces. |
| 0:13.0 | Welcome to Takeaway with Sam Okas, a podcast for leaders of growing restaurant companies |
| 0:20.0 | looking to take their |
| 0:21.0 | businesses to the next level. In nearly two decades covering restaurants, I've gained access to |
| 0:26.3 | some of this industry's most influential decision makers, and I'm letting you in on the |
| 0:30.6 | conversations. In today's episode, you'll hear from the CEO of an emerging pizza chain about |
| 0:35.8 | why he's slashing prices even as his competitors |
| 0:39.0 | increase them and how he's setting the stage for long-term growth. |
| 0:43.5 | Mike Burns is the CEO of And Pizza, a fast casual pizza joint based in Washington, D.C., that has |
| 0:50.2 | grown to 45 locations. |
| 0:52.7 | Ann Pizza made headlines earlier this year when it announced that it would buck the trend |
| 0:56.9 | and cut its menu prices, offering unlimited free toppings with its $12 personal-sized pizzas |
| 1:03.6 | rather than charging for toppings. |
| 1:06.1 | Mike joined the podcast to share how and pizza is staying profitable with this change and why it's |
| 1:11.9 | especially an especially important strategy as the brand franchises for the first time. |
| 1:18.0 | In this conversation, you will learn more about why you have to strategize in years, not months, |
| 1:24.0 | how cutting prices is more of a volume play than a gimmick, and why your most important |
| 1:29.4 | customer is your returning customer. If you learn something from this episode, go follow |
| 1:34.6 | takeaway wherever you listen to podcasts and leave some feedback. It's the best way to get that |
| 1:39.2 | lesson to a fellow restaurant leader. Jumping now into my interview with Ann Pizza CEO, Mike Burns. |
... |
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