G. Brint Ryan, founder and chairman of Dallas-based Ryan LLC, has acquired the remaining ownership interest in Mr Gatti's Pizza, becoming the brand's primary owner and setting the stage for a CEO succession at the 60-year-old regional pizza-and-entertainment chain. Outgoing chief executive Jim Phillips will stay through a transition period while the company recruits his replacement.
Ryan first took a co-ownership stake in the Fort Worth-based franchisor in December 2025. His full buyout consolidates control in the hands of a longtime franchisee operator — a structure that positions the brand as effectively self-operated at the franchisor level, a model that has gained traction across casual and family-dining segments where franchisee advocacy at the corporate level is increasingly a selling point for area development recruitment.
Phillips' Eleven-Year Run
Phillips acquired Mr Gatti's in 2015 and oversaw one of the more durable turnarounds in family-dining pizza. Under his tenure, the system expanded its restaurant footprint by 50%, grew from three states to 12, and nearly doubled systemwide revenue over the past five years. The chain now counts more than 200 locations open or in development across Texas and the Southeastern United States — a footprint that puts it in contention with regional pizza-entertainment concepts such as CiCi's Pizza and positions it well below the scale of national players like Chuck E. Cheese parent Bolduc Corp., but firmly in a defensible niche.
Beyond unit growth, Phillips standardized franchise agreements, rebuilt the system's marketing fund, introduced proprietary retail products, and revived original recipes under a food-first repositioning. Annual franchise conventions were restored, and store formats were refined — operational moves that tend to correlate with improved franchisee satisfaction scores and stronger new-unit pipeline momentum. The brand earned a spot on the Nation's Restaurant News 100 Under 100 list in both 2024 and 2025 and ranked No. 8 on the Global Franchise Power List in 2024, signals that the system's trajectory has registered with the broader industry.
Ownership Structure and What's Next
"Jim has led one of the most impressive transformations in our brand's history," Ryan said. "His leadership established a strong financial foundation, built an outstanding executive team and created a culture that puts franchisees first. My wife Amanda and I are honored to carry that legacy forward as we invest in the continued growth of Mr Gatti's."
Ryan's dual identity as franchisee and franchisor owner mirrors a pattern seen across maturing franchise systems where operators with skin in the game at the unit level move upstream to influence brand standards and capital allocation. For prospective franchisees evaluating area development agreements, that alignment can lower perceived risk around royalty rate changes or marketing-fund governance.
The incoming ownership team has not disclosed financial terms of the transaction, guidance on AUV targets, or a timeline for naming a new CEO. The brand's franchise development portal at gattispizzafranchise.com remains active, suggesting recruitment of new operators continues through the leadership change. For operators tracking the family-entertainment and pizza segment, Mr Gatti's trajectory under new ownership — and whoever the next CEO turns out to be — will be worth watching as the brand pushes deeper into its 12-state footprint.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
