Azzip Pizza is a fast-casual pizza restaurant chain founded in Evansville, Indiana, in 2014 by Evansville native Brad Niemeier. Known for customizable personal pizzas, unusual specialty pizzas, and its rotating Pizza of the Month program, Azzip grew from a single Evansville West Side restaurant into a regional chain with locations across Indiana and Kentucky.
The company’s name, Azzip, is simply the word “pizza” spelled backwards.
Origins
The idea for Azzip began while founder Brad Niemeier was a student studying Hospitality and Tourism Management at Purdue University.
Niemeier had an interest in entrepreneurship and wanted to create his own restaurant concept. While at Purdue, he experimented with making pizzas for friends and fellow students and developed the idea of a fast-casual restaurant where customers could customize individual pizzas that would be prepared directly in front of them.
In 2012, Niemeier entered his Azzip concept in Purdue University’s Burton D. Morgan Business Plan Competition.
He won the competition and received $20,000 to help turn the idea into an actual business.
Although the concept was developed at Purdue, Niemeier returned to his hometown of Evansville to launch the company.
First Evansville Location
Niemeier worked with longtime friend and professional chef Blake Kollker to develop Azzip’s menu and transform the business plan into a functioning restaurant.
The first Azzip Pizza opened on February 5, 2014, on Evansville’s West Side.
The original location was at 5225 Pearl Drive.
Azzip’s own description of its history summarizes the company’s origins as a concept that was born at Purdue but started in Evansville.
The original restaurant introduced Evansville customers to Azzip’s assembly-line approach to pizza. Customers could select a crust, sauce, cheese, meats, vegetables, and other toppings while watching their individual pizza being prepared.
The pizza could then be cooked rapidly, combining the customization of a traditional pizza restaurant with the speed of the growing fast-casual restaurant industry.
Early Success
The Evansville restaurant quickly attracted attention.
Azzip was named Best New Restaurant by Evansville Living following its opening.
The company subsequently received the Gold award for Best Place for Pizza in the Evansville Courier & Press Readers’ Choice Awards.
Only months after opening the original Evansville restaurant, Azzip expanded with a second location in Newburgh, Indiana.
Additional restaurants followed.
Growth Beyond Evansville
Azzip eventually expanded beyond the Evansville area into other Indiana communities and Kentucky.
Locations have operated in communities including Evansville, Newburgh, Bloomington, Terre Haute, Lafayette, West Lafayette, Indianapolis, Bowling Green, and Owensboro.
Despite its expansion, the company has maintained its headquarters in Evansville.
Azzip remains a family-owned and operated company. Members of the Niemeier family became involved in different aspects of the business as it grew, including accounting, operations, construction, finance, and company leadership.
Brad’s brother Andy Niemeier eventually became Co-CEO.
Pizza of the Month
One of Azzip’s distinguishing features is its Pizza of the Month program.
Rather than limiting its menu to conventional pizza combinations, the company regularly develops specialty pizzas inspired by other foods and regional flavors.
Some became recurring customer favorites, including March Crabness, a crab rangoon-inspired pizza, and General Yum Yum, inspired by hibachi-style flavors.
Azzip also incorporated regional Evansville-area tastes into its menu.
One notable creation, the E’Vil Pig, combined smoked pork with crushed Grippo’s chips and a reduction made with Ski, incorporating two products strongly associated with the surrounding region.
The creativity of Azzip’s specialty menu eventually attracted recognition beyond Evansville, with the company receiving national industry attention for menu innovation.
The Westsider
Azzip has also maintained connections to the community where its first restaurant opened.
One of its signature pizzas is called the Westsider, a reference to Evansville’s West Side and the location of the company’s original restaurant.
The name became another reminder of the chain’s Evansville roots even as Azzip expanded into other cities.
Community Involvement
Azzip developed a community fundraising program known as We Give A’Zip.
The program partners with schools and nonprofit organizations, allowing participating groups to receive a portion of eligible restaurant sales connected with fundraising events.
The first We Give A’Zip event was held with Newburgh Elementary School in 2015.
Community involvement became part of the company’s identity as Azzip expanded into additional markets.
Headquarters in Evansville
Azzip’s growth eventually required the company to establish a dedicated headquarters.
In 2016, the business moved its headquarters operations out of the Niemeier family’s basement and into an official headquarters in Evansville.
Evansville has continued to serve as the company’s home base while Azzip expanded throughout Indiana and Kentucky.
Significance to Evansville
Azzip Pizza represents one of Evansville’s more notable modern restaurant success stories.
Unlike a national chain that later entered the Evansville market, Azzip’s first restaurant opened in Evansville, and the company subsequently expanded outward from the city.
The business began with a $20,000 college entrepreneurship competition award, an Evansville native returning home, assistance from friends and family, and a single West Side restaurant.
Within a decade, Azzip had developed into a multi-city regional restaurant brand.
Its story provides a modern example of an Evansville-founded business growing beyond the Tri-State while maintaining its headquarters and identity in the city where its first customers were served.
Quick Facts
Name: Azzip Pizza
Pronunciation: “Ay-Zip”
Meaning of name: “Pizza” spelled backwards
Founder: Brad Niemeier
Founded: 2014
First pizza sold: February 5, 2014
First location: Evansville West Side
Original location: 5225 Pearl Drive, Evansville, Indiana
Headquarters: Evansville, Indiana
Type: Fast-casual pizza restaurant
Known for: Customizable personal pizzas and Pizza of the Month creations
Original concept developed: Purdue University
First restaurant opened: Evansville, Indiana
Markets: Indiana and Kentucky