MOD Pizza will open at Riverdale Park Station on Oct. 20.
The fast-casual pizza chain will join a crowded local pizza scene, with everything from old-school pizzeria Ledo’s in College Park, to the new Potomac Pizza at the Hotel at the University of Maryland, to the upscale Pizzeria Paradiso in Hyattsville.
But its most direct competition is Blaze Pizza and the upstart Lotsa Pizza in College Park, both of which offer the same kind of artisanal build-your-own fast casual pizza—what restaurant industry insiders call the “Chipotle of pizza” concept.
The Hyattsville Wire caught up with district manager Richard Waldo, who was confident that MOD would do well at the location.
That’s because the Seattle-based chain kickstarted the concept of build-your-own pizza back in 2008 and seems to have survived the first retrenchment among fast casual pizza chains nationally. The chain has 227 locations, with another 60 coming this year.
Apart from the food, MOD is also known for how it treats employees. Workers start with a base hourly salary of $10.50—slightly higher than Maryland’s $9.25 minimum wage as well as vision and dental benefits.
The company also offers an emergency fund to help employees leave a domestic violence situation, cope with the death of a family member or deal with other crises.
