Gino's East Heads South
World-famous Chicago pizzeria deluges Texas with deep-dish pies
Some of Chicago's most famous deep dish pizza is headed to four Texas cities. Austin-based ATX Brands, which operates breastaurant chain Bikinis Sports Bar & Grill, is bringing Gino's East to Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and Houston suburb The Woodlands.
This will be the first franchise outside of the Chicago area for Gino's East, which was founded in 1966. ATX Brands CEO and founder Doug Guller has been working with pizzeria on the project since late 2013, but news of the brand's foray into Texas only recently surfaced.
He says the reason for the partnership is two-fold. "Currently there's a hole in the Texas market for great deep dish pizza from Chicago, and when I contacted Gino's East, they were super excited about coming to Texas," he says.
"The other reason is that I lived there back in the late '90s and became a big fan of Gino's East, the Cubs and everything Chicago!"
Houston and San Antonio are slated to get the first restaurants. According to Eater, the Texas outposts will serve Chicago craft beers, Gino's East's signature sausage and Texas barbecue pizzas.