Your Pie, the originator of the down the line, brick oven pizza concept is celebrating its most recent opening in Birmingham at 2311 Richard Arrington, Jr. Boulevard North #300. The restaurant, scheduled to officially open its doors on December 9, 2016, will be owned and operated by franchisee Lloyd Peeples, and will serve as Your Pie’s second Alabama location, continuing the unique concept’s growth in the region through a focus on authentic ingredients and quality customer service. The location in Birmingham will offer a whole new type of hand-tossed personalized pizza to the area, ready to roll out to the masses.

Peeples brings a diverse background in business management to the Your Pie brand. He received his undergraduate degree at Washington & Lee before attending law school at Samford University. Focusing much of his attention on law between 2000 and 2011, Peeples then expanded his business experience by joining his father’s growing corrugated box manufacturing business based outside of Chattanooga, TN in 2012. When his father passed away in October of 2013, Peeples took over as CEO of the company, where he continues to shepherd rapid growth. The new Your Pie location in Birmingham is the second of three Your Pie openings for Peeples. His third franchise location is scheduled to open in March of 2017, pending the signing of lease agreements.

“I have been seeking out real estate locations in the inner city for some time and we are thrilled to be opening the doors in such a booming part of Birmingham,” said Peeples. “The Uptown location is an ideal fit, because it offers great foot traffic and a connection to so many vibrant young families and urban professionals. We are eager to open our doors and give Birmingham a truly unique taste and pizza experience.”

Drew French, who founded Your Pie in 2008, didn’t know great pizza until he experienced the brick oven style baking on the island of Ischia while on his honeymoon. Instead of a simple Italian souvenir, French was inspired to bring back the entire rustic and delicious method to the United States. French put his love of gourmet food and his business degree from the University of Georgia to work, opening up his first Your Pie location in Athens, Ga. in 2008. French has had his sights set on rapid expansion in Alabama for some time, but wanted to find the perfect franchisee to spearhead that type of growth in the state.

“Birmingham held an extremely high value for us as we continue to focus on expanding throughout the Southeast U.S.,” said French. “The opportunities for growth for our down-the-line concept are still extremely high across the state, and Birmingham is obviously a huge target, because it’s the ideal fit for our concept. The community is going to love the authentic Italian quality, customization and craft beer pairings that Your Pie offers, and we know even bigger success lies ahead across Alabama thanks to the visionary leadership our dedicated franchisees like Lloyd provide.”

The opening of Your Pie’s second Birmingham location is part of the brand’s aggressive growth plan across the state of Alabama. Your Pie has nearly 40 locations in 13 states and 50 more currently in development. With new locations opening across the country this year, the brand is continuing to enter new markets with even more franchised opportunities available nationwide.

“Our hand-tossed dough, brick-oven baking technique, dedication to working with other local businesses and grass-roots community partnerships all help make Your Pie unique in the fast casual space,” French added. “We’re excited to share our customized pies with Birmingham, to solidify our mark on the fast-casual pizza concept, and continue our expansion across Alabama and beyond.”