Craveworthy Brands' pizza concept, Fresh Brothers, was recently featured in Franchise Times by Reporter, Matthew Liedke.
More than a year after Craveworthy Brands acquired California-based Fresh Brothers Pizza, the brand is taking its first franchise step. In the time since the late 2024 acquisition, Craveworthy has enhanced the concept’s capabilities to grow beyond the Golden State.
When Craveworthy Brands brought Fresh Brothers Pizza into its portfolio in November 2024, it offered the potential to reach a rate of growth the founders long dreamt of.
Fifteen months since the acquisition, the growth phase is ready to commence with the launch of Fresh Brothers’ franchise system. For Craveworthy, it’s the latest in a line of franchise investments: It bought Wing It On in early 2023, added Dirty Dough in 2024 and in March 2025 took a stake in Shaquille O’Neal’s Big Chicken, moving that brand under its umbrella.
Fresh Brothers, based in California, enters the franchise fray with 25 locations, 22 of them brick-and-mortar and three non-traditional. While the franchise system is new, the brand was founded nearly 20 years ago and has decades-old roots.
Fresh Brothers co-founder Scott Goldberg created his first brand outside of Chicago in 1995 under the name Miller Pizza. He operated the company until 2007, when he was invited by his brother and former CEO Adam to Los Angeles. Goldberg said his brother had an idea of developing a concept offering Chicago-style thin crust pizza with a California twist.
A year later, in Manhattan Beach, the first Fresh Brothers location opened; in the ensuing years, Goldberg said it caught on in nearby markets. After eight years, Nolan Capital took a controlling interest in the company to drive more expansion. According to the Los Angeles Business Journal, the investment from Nolan allowed the company to eliminate the debt it took on to open stores, along with allowing for future development.
Goldberg said private equity did give Fresh Brothers the opportunity to add units, and the goals were to have dozens created in the following years. The Los Angeles Business Journal also reported that the plan was to open 50 stores. The concept’s unit count remained around 20 over the years, however, while there were a few changes in leadership.
After Goldberg’s brother stepped down, Geoffrey Goodman was hired as CEO in January 2020 from Round Table Pizza, where he was executive vice president. Goodman’s successor was Ron Coolbaugh, who was hired in June 2022 after holding the chief operations officer position at CKE Restaurants.
Goldberg said during the time with Nolan Capital, the brand was able to build its profile with additional locations and awareness, but wasn’t able to advance outside of California. Additionally, by 2024, Nolan Capital was looking to move beyond the restaurant business, which led to the opportunity with Craveworthy.
“We never had a problem with going from Hollywood to Encino and to Calabasas in California,” Goldberg said. “But we were looking at taking the next step to go from Manhattan Beach in California to Wichita, Kansas. That was what had been difficult for us. That’s where Craveworthy comes in because they’ve been doing that for years. Having a partner that has experience in franchising is certainly a huge plus for us.”
For Craveworthy, the move was opportune as well, since CEO Gregg Majewski always wanted to add a pizza concept to its group of concepts.
“When we look at our portfolio, we look at the niches that we don’t have,” Majewski said. “When this deal came to the table, we saw something that was not West Coast enough, in a good way. It was something that could translate well across the United States. Having it be something that originated in the Midwest gave me confidence. If it had just been your traditional product in L.A., it would still be just in L.A.”
Following the acquisition, Majewski said Craveworthy employed its usual playbook, which he said includes making sure food costs are in line, getting the marketing up to date, signing distributor contracts and upgrading digital capabilities.
“On the tech stack, it was getting all of the restaurants switched to Toast,” Majewski said. “We also had some operating pieces that took a bit of time. Plus, unfortunately, we had other acquisitions that took some bandwidth for a bit. The goal was to be franchising by the middle of our fourth quarter last year, but it ended up being the first quarter for us.”
Geographically, Majewski said the strategy is to develop western states, with additional California units and Arizona openings, as well as entering Midwest markets. Because Craveworthy has a presence in Texas with other restaurants, the Lone Star State will also be considered. Developments, Majewski said, will largely be under the single-unit format.
“I love the single-unit story,” Majewski said. “I bet on my franchisees as much as they bet on us. If I have an incredible operator, I’m not going to make them come out of pocket and buy a 15-store deal. Let’s make sure you work first, and then I’ll give you first right on something after. We want to open what’s going to make franchisees the most amount of money in the biggest trade area I can, and they’ll be begging me for another store.”
To learn more about Fresh Brothers franchise opportunities, visit here.