Gino’s East headed to Texas

Culinary academy students in Texas will soon be able to experience a taste of the Windy City without having to leave the Lone Star State.

The essential guide cover

Take the Culinary Career Survey

We’ve compiled a checklist of all of the essential questions into one handy tool: career options, culinary interest surveys, educational opportunities, and more.

Campus of Interest*
Program of Interest*

Clicking the "Get the Survey Now" button constitutes your express request, and your express written consent, to be contacted by and to receive automated or pre-recorded call, texts, messages and/or emails from via phone, text, and/or emails by Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts at the number(s)/email you provided, regarding furthering your education and enrolling. You understand that these calls, texts, messages and/or emails may be generated using an automated or pre-recorded technology. You are not required to agree to receive automated or pre-recorded calls, texts, messages or emails as a condition of enrolling at Escoffier. You can unsubscribe at any time or request removal of street address, phone number, email address via Escoffier website.

September 18, 2014 2 min read

Deep dish pizza is headed to Texas.Culinary academy students in Texas will soon be able to experience a taste of the Windy City without having to leave the Lone Star State. A recent deal announced by ATX Brands, a local hospitality group that owns and operates several Bikinis Sports Bar & Grill locations, will bring multiple Gino’s East Franchises to Texas in the next several years. According to CultureMap Houston, the deep dish pizza establishment will first be coming to The Woodlands, a neighborhood north of Houston, as soon as November of 2014.

The CEO and founder of ATX Brands, Doug Guller, has reportedly been in talks with the restaurant since as early as 2013, though news of the deal is just now beginning to finalize. Gino’s East is a local staple in Chicago, where it has been pleasing customers with it’s mouthwatering pizza since its founding in 1966. Following the opening of The Woodlands location, other franchises are planned to spring up in Austin, San Antonio and Arlington. While the details of the timeline aren’t locked down completely, Guller has indicated that each franchise will open roughly six weeks after the one before it, with the Austin location coming last in summer 2015.

While deep dish pizza may seem like an odd choice for a venture into the Texan culinary market, Guller seems confident that the current market void for the delicious food will make it a success. In explaining this to CultureMap, he also made sure to reiterate his love for the city of Chicago.

“Currently there’s a hole in the Texas market for great deep dish pizza from Chicago, and when I contacted Gino’s East, they were super excited about coming to Texas,” said Guller. “The other reason is that I lived there back in the late ’90s and became a big fan of Gino’s East, the Cubs and everything Chicago!”

Subscribe to the King of Chefs Blog

Subscribe to the King of Chefs Blog

Get the King of Chefs email newsletter delivered to your inbox weekly. You'll get everything you need to know about culinary & pastry careers, food entrepreneurship, financing your culinary education, and more.