Money is tight for a lot of folks. Everyone’s dollars are feeling stretched.
And that’s why Timber Pizza Co. is winning, said the co-founder Chris Brady.
The Washington, D.C.-based hybrid fast-casual and (sort of) full-service brand now has eight units after launching franchising last year. Six of those units are franchised, including five that opened in the past 13 months, pushing out of the “DMV” (the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia) and into the Carolinas.
Another four to five are scheduled to open in 2026, and then the plan is to accelerate openings to eight to 10 per year, with franchising as the focus.
What’s working for Timber Pizza is the fairly simple positioning as the neighborhood pizza shop, where consumers feel they are getting a premium product at an accessible price, said Brady.
“You come to Timber Pizza, you feed your family, enjoy a beverage and go home without feeling like you just went to a fine dining restaurant,” he said.
The brand began as a mobile pizza truck in 2014.
Brady and co-founder Andrew Dana (who went on to launch the Call Your Mother Deli concept in D.C.) had a baby-blue 1967 Chevy truck, behind which they pulled a Marra Forni pizza oven on a trailer and tooled around D.C., making pizzas at weddings, festivals and farmers markets. They eventually added two more trucks. (One of them is still at a unit in Maryland.)
“That’s part of our roots,” said Brady. “We’re not expanding that aspect via franchising, but it’s an excellent marketing tool.”
The first brick-and-mortar opened in 2016 in D.C. Chef Dani Moreira (now Dana’s wife and partner in Call Your Mother) created the menu around the wood-fired oven, winning praise from Bon Appetit, and a mention in the Michelin Bib Gourmand guide.
The 12-inch pies (“a meal for one or a snack for two”) have a thin and chewy crust, in the style of a Neapolitan without following all the rules, said Brady. Toppings might include roasted sweet potatoes, for example, a spicy fruit jam or Peruvian sweet peppers. Prices range between $15 to $21.
There are empanadas with rotating flavors and seasonal salads. Cocktails are served in camp mugs, and a popular dessert is the ice cream sundae, with the waffle cones baked in the wood oven and paired with ice cream from local shops.
Guests order at the counter and food is run to the table, though it’s full service for those sitting at the bar. On average, sales are split evenly between dine-in and off-premise, though that varies by location, Brady said.
In 2021, Brady and Dana brought in new partners. Luke Watson, who worked previously with Marriott, joined as CEO, and Fred Fried, who came from the sports agency business, became chairman of the board. Their foundational investment (which was undisclosed) helped get the franchising ball rolling, Brady said.
The first corporate location in D.C. is averaging about $2.1 million, but the company hasn’t had enough franchised locations open long enough to get an accurate average unit volume for the system.
Still, Brady feels there’s no ceiling on where Timber Pizza could go, he said.
It’s the more approachable concepts, like Timber Pizza, that are appealing to both consumers and franchisees right now, he said.
“We’re trying not to get too far ahead of our skis and opening 30 next year,” he said. “For us, it’s about continuing to focus on the day to day, and supporting our partners, while having a long-range vision that we could be national, or even global.”