New Gatti's Pizza restaurant design: Sometimes separation is a good thing

The new ownership behind Gatti's Pizza broke ground on the longtime brand's first franchise location in seven years this week, this one on East Central Texas Expressway in Killeen, Texas.

Since Sovrano LLC purchased the brand a two years ago, they've opened a number of corporate-owned locations, but this is their first franchise, a news release said. The Killeen store will be operated by the franchisee team of Wallace Vernon, Nancy Hennigan and Tad Dorroh.

The new location will sport the brand's new restaurant design, which puts entertainment and dining in separate areas. The layout is already in use at five corporate-owned stores in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.

The new store concept separates Gatti’s Pizza's traditional buffet and restaurant from a 4,500-square-foot family entertainment center that features more than 50 games, the release said. 

"By more clearly separating the entertainment center from the dining area, we believe we are significantly enhancing the Gatti’s Pizza experience for all our guests,” Gatti's President Michael Poates said in the release. 

The new design provides separate entrances for the buffet and entertainment areas to ease traffic flow for large parties and restaurant customers. Entertainment area customers will have their own food court, which offers pizza slices and pepperoni rolls, as well as beer, wine and gelato. There are also separate party rooms. 

"After updating the concept and seeing an extremely positive reception at our corporate locations, we see Killeen as the perfect location to jump-start franchising," Poates said.