SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MOD Pizza announced today that John Dikos, CFE, has joined the company as vice president, strategic partnerships. Mr. Dikos comes to MOD Pizza from Qdoba Mexican Grill where he most recently served as director of franchise development. Dikos will focus on accelerating the company’s growth into key markets across the United States with franchise partners. MOD currently operates nine restaurants in Washington State, with an additional seven units set to open in Washington, Oregon and California by December 2013.

Scott Svenson, CEO of MOD Pizza, notes the importance of this appointment – “MOD is entering an exciting phase of growth. Over the past five years, we have thoughtfully built the business through company owned stores with the goal of creating a unique and scalable brand and customer experience. As we accelerate the development of company stores, we have decided the time is right to invite a select number of experienced operators to partner with us to build MOD into a national brand. We believe John is ideal to lead these efforts because he is a great fit with our values and culture, he has all the tools to excel in the role, and he clearly understands that partner selection goes far beyond having capital and restaurant experience. While we plan to be very selective when choosing our partners, we do anticipate swift growth.”

Dikos, who is already in discussion with several strong groups, added, “MOD has created a truly unique brand and culture. It may be common to talk about culture but refreshing and rare to truly commit to it. I’m confident that professional restaurant organizations that want to enter the fast casual pizza space will find MOD’s approach very appealing. While we are committed to building a national brand, we intend to accomplish this by building one great store at a time, each of which is deeply connected to the local community it serves. With the momentum we currently enjoy, I am confident we will add some strong partners to the MOD family in the months ahead.”

Dikos brings a strong financial and franchising background to MOD Pizza. In 2000, he co-founded Capital Avenue, an online commercial lending company, which was eventually acquired by National Cooperative Bank. Dikos remained with NCB in their small business lending unit and newly formed franchise finance group, where he focused on the restaurant segment. In 2007, Dikos joined Qdoba Mexican Grill as manager of franchise development and was promoted to director of franchise development in 2010. In 2012, he was promoted again to oversee all franchise development, legal and relationship management. During his nearly seven years with Qdoba, the chain grew from 300 to over 600 restaurants through both company and franchise development.

John can be reached at jdikos@modpizza.com

About MOD Pizza

Since 2008, MOD Pizza has been the leader in the fast casual pizza market, serving up individual, artisan-style thin crust pizzas. MOD’s pizzas are Made-On-Demand (MOD), using their signature hand-made dough and sauces, all made fresh daily. Customers can choose from a menu of 10 pre-designed pizzas or create their own, choosing from more than 30 featured toppings. MOD offers three sizes of pizzas—Mini (6 inch), MOD (11 inch) and Mega (11 inch double crust). Pizzas are the same price regardless of the number of toppings, and are hand-cooked in an 800 degree display oven within 2-3 minutes. MOD also offers a selection of made-on-demand salads along with draft and bottled beer, wine, pizza dough knots, milkshakes, house made lemonades and iced teas. MOD Pizza was founded by Scott and Ally Svenson, who co-founded Seattle Coffee Company in London in 1994. They grew the brand to 65 company owned stores in three years while introducing England to the world of made-to-order espresso drinks and the coffee bar culture. Seattle Coffee Company was acquired by Starbucks Coffee Company in 1998. In 2013 MOD Pizza was recognized as one of the “Top 50 Breakout Brands” by Nations Restaurant News andranked as a “Fastest Growing Company” and “Best Places to Work” by the Puget Sound Business Journal. For more information or to schedule an interview contact Charlotte Wayte, 206-261-4963, charlotte@limelightpartners.com.

Photo available upon request