Executive Q&A: Carl Comeaux, CEO of Crust Pizza Co.

1851 Franchise: How did you fall into franchising?

Carl Comeaux, CEO of Crust Pizza Co.: At 16 years old, I started training clients — personal training — so I was in the fitness space. Then I went to college, got a couple of degrees in exercise physiology. And then from there, I opened up a couple of personal training studios. What I learned was that I love the business side of it even more than transforming people’s lives. I ended up partnering with one of my business partners, who is also my business partner with Crust, on a business called Fix My Phone.

We went from fitness to fixing cell phones, which was quite interesting. It did so well that we said, “Let's franchise this.” So that was the first business where I got introduced to franchising. We got all the legal work done, launched it successfully, and then a year later, Nick [Fontenot] comes to me and says, “Hey, Carl, I have this great idea. Let's do a juice and smoothie concept.” I was like, “Juice and smoothie? Okay.”

Before he brought up the juice and smoothie concept, he said, “Let's open up a yoga studio.” I thought, “What are you talking about?” He explained that his sister, a yoga instructor, needed a space, and we could do yoga in the back and juice and smoothies in the front. I told him, “Yoga people are too much about the universe and not about making money. I'm not sure about yoga.” But juice and smoothies, I could see the connection.

So he sent me a P&L from ilovejuicebar.com, and I looked at it. Being the numbers guy and operations guy, while Nick makes things look and feel great and handles technology with our team, I said, “Let's do it.” We paused Fix My Phone and dove into Main Squeeze, not thinking we were going to franchise it. We planned just one for his sister and that’s it. I projected we’d do $30,000 a month, build up to $50,000, then call it a day and go back to Fix My Phone.

The first month we opened, we did over $100,000. We realized our focus would change from cell phone repair to juice and smoothies. We ended up selling over 40 units in the first 18 months, absolutely exploding the juice and smoothie concept as Main Squeeze Juice Company.

At the same time, I moved to The Woodlands, Texas, where Crust is based. I tried Crust as a customer, fell in love with it, and met the founders, Mark Rasberry and Clint Price. We started hanging out, having lunch once a month and sharing ideas. They wanted to scale Crust but had no idea how to franchise it, so I helped them with the steps to franchise.

In 2018, I decided to move back to Lake Charles, Louisiana. My wife thought I was crazy. I told Mark and Clint, “The only thing I'll miss about The Woodlands is Crust Pizza. Let's open a Crust in Lake Charles.” They thought the demographics wouldn't work. I insisted they would, based on our success with Fix My Phone and Main Squeeze there, but they still said no.

As Nick and I were looking for our next thing, I suggested we create a pizza concept in Lake Charles. We trademarked Rush Pizza, developed it and were about to sign a lease when Clint called. He said, “I saw you guys sold Main Squeeze. Congratulations. What are y'all doing now?” I told him about signing a lease for Rush Pizza. He replied, “No, help us scale Crust.”

We convinced the landlord to try Crust in Houston and meet Mark and Clint. He loved it and gave us eight weeks to decide. We realized Crust needed changes to be scalable: condensing the menu, streamlining sizes and adjusting pricing. We made those changes and opened in Lake Charles, which became the top store in revenue, cost of goods, payroll and reviews.

Now, we’re the number one store in our chain of 25 stores. I'm currently the CEO, and we’re growing organically and doing things right. It's exciting.

1851: Were you focused on developing a franchise system that could be replicated, regardless of the variety of consumer products?

Comeaux: Yeah, I was trying to find the right vehicle. For example, in the fitness industry, only 10% of people work out, so there’s a lot of opportunity but you’ve got to spend a ton of money on advertising to get those people in. When we opened up the juice and smoothie bar, we noticed the same thing — not 100% of people want juice and smoothies, right?

Whenever I was looking at the pizza space, most people love pizza and eat it at least once a month — for our customers, it’s once a week or once every other week. Pizza brings people together, it creates great memories — so I just really liked the pizza space and what it stood for. On top of that, the product that Crust has is different from any other pizza I've ever had. I was a customer before I was a partner and when I tried it, I was like, “Wow, this is very unique. This is very different from any other pizza I've had.”

1851: When you were creating Rush Pizza, were you trying to imitate what Crust Pizza Co. was like?

Comeaux: Yeah, I was creating somewhat of a version of it. Of course, some things were different, but Crust — the product speaks for itself. We don't cut any corners. So even though there are many pizza places, each time we go into a new market, we quickly become the number one pizza place in the local magazine where they vote for the best of everything. 

We make our dough fresh every day, every two to three hours. If we don't use it, we throw it out. Our cheese comes in big blocks and we shred that daily. All our produce is fresh. A lot of our meats we slice daily. The quality of ingredients really, really stands out in our pizza. 

1851: Did you sell Main Squeeze because you felt you had achieved your goals with it, or was it because you saw a better opportunity elsewhere?

Comeaux: I felt like we were at a good stage and a good peak for us to get out and then to move on to something better and bigger, and Crust Pizza just came right into place. I mean, this is definitely the brand that I want to take from where it’s at right now and grow it to 500-plus locations — our goal in the next 10 years is 250. Our biggest roadblock right now is finding the real estate, finding the end caps — 2,300- 2,500 square feet with a patio or building a patio. We have many territories that are just sitting and waiting. 

1851: What do you take into consideration when selecting locations, since the strong product, brand and experience will let you grow nonlinearly as long as you align with the right operator?

Comeaux: We are focused on Texas and Louisiana. The goal is to own the Southeast U.S. region from Texas all the way up to the Carolinas, including Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma. But we want to grow organically. Houston is sold out so we're building out Austin and San Antonio, and then Dallas. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to the right franchisees. We want to do things the right way and we need the right partners in order to grow. 

Now, I will tell you this — we're not scared to do corporate stores. We're on track to do eight next year, so we’re 100% good with being patient. If we need to do more corporate stores to get to a number where those multi-unit franchisees are looking at us more, we're good with that. We'll be patient because, like I said, this isn't about making money in the short term. I want this to be a long-term play. And in order to do that, we have to have the right partners.

1851: Is it hard to have a governor on not going and creating more ideas knowing that you've engineered the system?

Comeaux: I'm at a stage in my life where I'm ready to just focus on one brand. I had a couple of other businesses, but I liquidated them, so I'm all in 100% on this concept. I know we can do great things and we have a great team in place — couldn't do it without them.

We're in a good place right now. We're debt-free as a franchise, which is pretty cool. Three years into it, it's not bad. And on top of that, we're growing aggressively corporately. I've been approached by private equity and, if we do do it, we have to find the right partner. But right now, we’re good with where we’re at. A lot of runway.

1851: What key points do you want potential candidates, whether they’ve visited your site or not, to know about this opportunity that would compel them to consider filling out the form?

Comeaux: The product’s there. We have a great development team and a great process for finding the right real estate. 

We’re a technology company as well — we own our own technology except for the point of sale which we building out now to launch in 2025. The system that runs the franchise is our own proprietary system. And on top of that, a lot of the tools that the franchisees use is all our technology. What's great about that is when you have an issue with third-party software, you’re in line with 20 other people. But with us, if there’s an issue, we fix it immediately.

We're doing things the right way. Like I said, our product speaks for itself. I feel like if we have the right franchisee in the right location, the rest is going to take care of itself.

For more information on franchise opportunities with Crust Pizza Co., visit https://www.1851growthclub.com/brands/crust-pizza-co/.