Info

Texas-based Mr. Gatti's offers a pizza buffet in a family atmosphere at 150 locations in eight states. Its major competitor is CiCi's Pizza. Private equity firm Blue Sage Capital acquired the Mr. Gatti's chain in 2004. Schaffler, a developer with Southern Commercial Real Estate, first plans to revamp the three locations he acquired with new paint, furniture and equipment at a cost of about $100,000 each. He declined to give the total value of the franchise deal. The deal also calls for the development of two GattiTown locations. GattiTown is a 25,000-square-foot entertainment concept that combines video games, go-carts, miniature golf and a pizza buffet. One GattiTown location is planned for Knoxville and the second will be in Nashville. The first two new Mr. Gatti's restaurants will be in Karns and Gallatin, Tenn. Schaffler expects construction to start within 30 to 45 days on the Karns location, in a strip retail development owned by Southern Commercial and Holrob Investments on Oak Ridge Highway. A Baskin-Robbins also will be located in the shopping center. There are no Mr. Gatti's locations in West Tennessee, and Schaffler will expand the brand throughout the middle and western divisions of the state. More than 80 percent of the company's locations are owned by franchisees. Other Tennessee franchisees own Mr. Gatti's locations in Clarksville, Oak Ridge, Dickson and Sevierville that were not part of the purchase by Pizza Southeast. At one time there were as many as 19 Mr. Gatti's locations in East Tennessee, Schaffler said. He said the owners were not spending enough to update the restaurants and the number dwindled. "We saw a viable business that had been neglected," Schaffler said. "It had a strong customer base and we hope to improve on the sales because the product is good."