Growth Chains: MOD PizzaGrowth Chains: MOD Pizza

By M. Sharon Baker


Ally and Scott Svenson may be relatively new to the pizza business, but they are hardly neophytes when it comes to growing restaurant concepts into multimillion-dollar enterprises — they’ve done it twice before.


The duo founded Seattle Coffee Co. as expats living in the United Kingdom in 1995 and grew the chain to 75 stores in less than three years. In 1998 Starbucks Coffee bought the Svensons out for more than $85 million.


In 1999 the Svensons helped London-based chef Antonio Carluccio create and fund Carluccio’s Caffès, a U.K.-based Italian cafe and deli concept. They took it public on the London Stock Exchange in 2005, built it to 50 units, then sold it in 2010 to the Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based Landmark Group...