[UP IN FLAMES] Atlanta Pizza Chain Shutters Pair of Metro Locations

Blaze Pizza seems to have permanently closed its locations in Buford and West Midtown.  Both restaurants have signage indicating their closures are meant to be temporary, but each location has been closed for several days and is marked "permanently closed" on their respective Google pages.  

Original Atlanta area Blaze franchisee Carl Hoover opened the West Midtown location (540 17th Street) on September 2018 followed three years later by the Buford location (3385 Woodward Crossing Boulevard) in September 2021.  Hoover would go on to operate a total of four Blaze Pizza franchises around metro Atlanta including two others on North Decatur Road near Emory University and on Cobb Parkway near Cumberland Mall.  There are also a pair of separately owned units in Valdosta and Statesboro that remain open.  In 2023, Hoover exited the Blaze Pizza franchise system and sold the restaurants to another group.  

Related: Gusto closes in West Midtown 

The Decatur and Akers Mill locations remain open...for now.  

Both locations were renovated within the past year with the Decatur unit getting a light facelift while the Akers Mill location, in partnership with Blaze corporate, was designated "Blaze Ignite" and introduced a new look and design for the brand.  

The "Ignite" concept was the brainchild of then CEO Beto Guajardo, who was hired as the company's president and CEO on January 4, 2023.  The brand moved its corporate headquarters from Pasadena, CA to metro Atlanta during the fall of 2024, a move Guajardo said would "help the chain during its next phase of growth."  The Ignite unit opened October 14, 2025, with Guajardo exiting the company a couple of months later, replaced in January 2026 by John Owen, former COO of Scooter's Coffee.  

Unfortunately, Blaze Pizza under Owen has suffered similarly to the way it did under Guajardo.  Like fellow fast-casual pizza chain MOD Pizza, Blaze, too, has seen its store count shrink with closures far outpacing new store openings.  

In addition to the two Atlanta area closures, a Blaze franchise in Brunswick closed in recent months, while plans announced in 2022 to open three units in Savannah never materialized.  

ToNeTo Atlanta's research suggests that the chain has seen at least sixty closures over the past three years, including earlier this summer in Boston and Asheville.  The chain is down from a high of nearly 340 restaurants to about 250 today. Interestingly, an existing franchisee of the company on August 18th opened a new location in a Cincinnati, Ohio shopping center just a couple doors away from where a MOD Pizza had previously closed.  

We asked the brand last fall about the rash of closures: "To what does Beto attribute the more than 15 Blaze restaurant closures in the past twelve months?" We were told then: "We routinely evaluate store performance with franchisees. Underperforming locations were closed based on sales, traffic trends, and market strategy. These decisions strengthen overall system health and support future growth."  

We also questioned the introduction of conveyor belt pizza, something pioneered by the epic failure that was Uncle Maddio's Pizza.  

We were told: "We’re testing a conveyor oven to improve consistency, speed, and capacity for digital large-pizza orders. The open-flame oven remains for in-restaurant orders. If results stay positive, it may roll out more broadly to improve throughput without reducing quality."  

While there have been few new locations to introduce the feature, the company has launched several new salad options at a time when Salad & Go struggled and most recently closed all of its remaining locations and Sweetgreen has also experienced significant weakness in salad sales.  

Are you surprised to see Blaze Pizza close its restaurants in Buford and West Midtown?  What would you like to see open in place of the now former Blaze Pizza locations?  What quick-serve pizza chain do you think delivers the best pie for the price?

Please share your thoughts below