January 2, 2008 - Newport Beach, CA—zpizza, the Southern California based gourmet pizza restaurant, jumped six spots on Fast Casual’s ‘Movers and Shaker’s’ Top 100 List affirming its position as the premier gourmet pizza franchise in the country. This is the second year the chain has been recognized as one of the magazine’s top franchises and continues to rocket up the list.

“It’s an honor to be on Fast Casual’s Top 100 List for the second year in a row,” says Chris Bright zpizza President. “We are placed alongside some of the most impressive chains in the restaurant business today. It is an honor.”

In this year’s ‘Movers and Shakers’ listing, zpizza is ranked #56 and placed among heavyweight concepts such as Starbucks, Moe’s, Sandella’s Flatbread, Vapiano and Chipotle.

Other zpizza awards of note include Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise 500 and customer choice awards from prominent publications such as the Los Angeles Times and most recently Washingtonian magazine.

The restaurant chain will enter 2008 with over 70 restaurants open and 300 plus units in ongoing development in California, Arizona, Nevada, Virginia, D.C., Maryland, North Carolina, Texas, Colorado and Vermont. California, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Nevada, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Montana, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Colorado and Washington, D.C.

zpizza was created by Sid Fanaroff and has been a local staple in the Laguna Beach and Newport Beach area since 1986.

For more information or if you are interested in franchising with zpizza please visit www.zpizza.com or contact Katie Magers at 214-520-7152 or katiem@fransmart.com.

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View Company Website: http://www.zpizza.com