Rise Pies’ story began in 2013, when its sister company, Chestnut Land Company of Youngstown, Ohio, celebrated its 20th year anniversary as a franchisee of Auntie Anne’s Soft Pretzels. Chestnut has grown to 70 Auntie Anne’s stores in 15 states. For several years, Chestnut had looked to launch a complementary restaurant concept to present to its real estate partners. The concept that kept coming up in Chestnut’s discussions was pizza, which 93% of Americans report eating at least once per month. After considering several franchise concepts in the category, Chestnut CEO Ed Muransky couldn’t help but think that many of the pizza offerings in his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio were simply better. He looked to combine the wonderful pizza of Youngstown with the burgeoning fast casual segment of the restaurant industry, and Rise Pies was born. Ed teamed up with his son Eddie and Award-Winning Chef Vernon Cesta, the Owner and Executive Chef at Vernon’s Café, an Italian Bistro in Niles, Ohio that has enjoyed over 19 years of success, and V2, a Trattoria and Wine Bar which opened in 2011 and has been a key presence in the revitalization of Downtown Youngstown, Ohio. Rise Pies features the thin Neapolitan Style pizza of V2, which has won numerous awards, with crusts made fresh daily, 4 different sauces, and over 20 toppings including locally sourced, organic vegetables. And since thin crust pizza, which 61% of Americans prefer, cooks in just 2.5 minutes using a 600 degree WoodStone oven, it is easily transferrable to a fast casual setting. Rise Pies brings top notch pizza, salads, sandwiches, drinks, and desserts in a comfortable modern rustic atmosphere to become the leader in the ever-growing fast casual, limited service pizza segment.