Content area
Full text
Considering Arizona's blazing heat, melted cheese would seem like a natural export.
A group of Arizona entrepreneurs think so, and they're placing pizza in what they consider a singular niche of variety, quick service and low price, and they're taking the concept on the road.
Eatza Pizza, founded in the Valley in 1997, underwent a metamorphosis last year when VistaCare Inc. hospice chain founder Barry Smith, purchased the organization.
The two new top executives in the wake of the purchase, President and Chief Executive Ron Stilwell and Executive Vice President Chris Utterback, are heading the effort to reshape Eatza Pizza's product and presentation and to grow it into a national presence.
"There's been a dramatic change in the past 12 months," said Stilwell.
There are 23 of the all-you-can-eat pizza buffet restaurants. Stilwell and Utterback plan to have 75 restaurants open or committed to by the end of this year. They've already moved their headquarters from Glendale into the Finova building in Scottsdale.
The company, which owns five...