How Mici Italian Became a Go-To Restaurant for Busy Families and Foodies Alike

Mici Italian, the emerging Italian restaurant franchise based in Denver, has spent the past 18 years perfecting a restaurant model based on a streamlined menu that delivers fast, thoughtfully made food. As a result, the brand has developed a loyal customer base who have made the restaurant’s artisan pizza, made-from-scratch pasta and fresh salads a weekly staple. 

“Customers absolutely rave about the quality service that Mici provides,” said Matt Stanton, Mici’s chief growth officer. “We have customers who choose to dine with us multiple times per week. They love our menu and the fact that Mici seamlessly fits into their fast-paced lives. We’re able to serve our customers with a high level of awareness of their needs, and it stretches far beyond our menu offerings.” 

Developed by the Miceli family, the Mici menu features recipes from the family’s Italian heritage, giving busy customers of all ages the chance to enjoy comforting, home-style Italian meals made quickly. And it’s a method that has proven to resonate with busy families in particular, as most pizzas are delivered to the table within 10 minutes of ordering and delivery times are targeting no more than 35 minutes.

Another method that has resonated with families: keeping small hands busy with fresh pizza dough. At every Mici restaurant, families with small children are greeted with a ball of pizza dough that is meant to be played with, and shaped, at the table while orders are processed in the kitchen, keeping children happy and engaged while they wait for their food. But, for those without children, Mici’s menu speaks for itself. The restaurant has been named Denver’s Best Pizza and Denver’s Best Italian food 10 years in a row, no easy feat in a bustling food city.   

What’s more, Mici’s handcrafted New York-style pizzas are a great takeaway item, tasting just as good for lunch the next day as they did at the restaurant. The culmination of taste, quality, service and speed together offers a premium restaurant experience with the speed of other large-scale fast casual brands. 

“We view our restaurants as a complete experience for each guest — and that experience is best achieved by treating everybody like family,” said Mici founder Jeff Miceli.

Part of treating customers like family is rewarding returning customers with discounts and other benefits, and Mici’s loyalty program does just that. “We’ve found that if we’re truly going to make this a family-style operation, we’re going to capitalize on as many return clients as we can to make that happen,” said Miceli. “People feel good about spending their money with us, and that has made all the difference.” 

In the kitchen, cooks use a patented hand press for pizza dough, designed by Miceli, which mimics what hands do in preparing and stretching the dough, allowing even the greenest of workers to perfectly stretch and top a pizza within a minute. In addition, Mici utilizes a unique oven that allows the restaurant to pair artisan-style cooking techniques with efficiency. The culmination of the two allows the brand to deliver handcrafted pizza made quickly and consistently, creating a menu of dishes that customers can trust to be perfect every time. 

“We’re only as good as the food we can put on the table and how we’re able to deliver it around the needs of our customers,” Miceli said. “Our strategy has made all the difference.”

There are currently six Mici locations in operation, one slated to open in December of 2021, and 20 more in the agreement stage. The brand plans to open its first franchised locations in early 2022, with a particular emphasis on Arizona and Texas, in addition to other key cities across the country. Startup costs range from $233,405 and $597,605. For more information about franchising with Mici visit: https://www.miciitalian.com/franchising/. 

For more information about franchising with Mici, visit https://micifranchising.com/.