Noble Roman's Pizza Chain Targets Inland Empire

The new shops are slated to open over the next five years in what amounts to new development territories with a population of 3.3 million for the Indianapolis-based company. The Inland Empire has grown steadily in population, retail base and job formation in recent years, becoming one of the fastest-growing regions in the US.

The new locations planned for the Inland Empire are part of a growth strategy that Noble Roman's laid out in its recently filed annual report with the Securities and Exchange commission. As it explained in the filing, the company has recently begun to sell development territories to area developers "in an attempt to accelerategrowth in the dual-branded traditional concept." Before focusing its efforts onfranchising, the company had approximately 25 years of experience operating full-service pizza restaurant.

A significant part of the company's business strategy is to award franchise agreements for both Noble Roman's Pizza and Tuscano's Italian Style Subs in what it calls "non-traditional venues such as hospitals, military bases, universities, convenience stores, attractions, entertainment facilities, casinos, airports, travel plazas, office complexes and hotels." The company has pursued this focus for the past several years.

The Inland Empire agreements continue an expansion that has included, during the last few months, the signing of eight other area development agreements for 311 new locations in a host of cities around the US. With the signing of the plans for those 311 new units, the 10 area development agreements in place thus far call for 384 units over the next six years.

Noble Roman's has franchises in 45 states from coast-to-coast within the US, plus Guam. In addition, it has sold franchise agreements for military bases in Puerto Rico, Guam and Italy, and for entertainment facilities and convenience stores in Canada.