Pizza franchise firing up for more: Sudbury-based Fired Up Pizza is growing quickly locally, plans for growth beyond.

• Author: Myers, Ella
• Position: Sudbury

What started off as enthusiasm for pizza nights with his family has grown into a full-blown business for Rob Chaput.

Chaput, his wife Suzanne, and his children Chelsea and Brennen loved the flavour and experience of making wood-fired pizza at home.

"It's a great family thing to cook together. We always found we liked something different than what was available," said Chaput.

The experienced entrepreneur decided to make the smokey, wood-fired pizza available to more people by importing ovens from China and selling them to Costco, although it took some convincing and hands-on work.

Chaput and his son Brennen went to the Ottawa Costco head office and made pizza for all of the buyers in their parking lot.

"They were very impressed with the ovens and even more impressed with the pizza we were serving them," said Chaput. "On the way back I mentioned to my son he might want to consider this as a job in a couple years."

In 2014, after two years of selling the ovens, Brennen started considering it.

With the help of his dad, on Canada Day 2014 the teenager opened a roadside tent called Fired Up Pizza in New Sudbury using the ovens his dad sold. Chaput said they focused on an authentic Italian, thin crust pizza.

"It's as thin as you can get and still hold pizza," said Chaput, although they've varied their approach a little to create "an Italian-Canadian fusion pizza."

"In Italy, they're very light with toppings. We've gone more the opposite way and we're very generous with toppings," said Chaput.

Their unique pizza was a hit.

"It only lasted a month with the demand, then we upgraded to a larger oven in a trailer instead of an event tent," said Chaput.

By the end of 2016, what started with Chaput, Brennen and his friend has grown to well over 50 employees spread between six different Fired Up Pizza franchises in town.

The various franchise locations vary somewhat in their setup.

After the first location opened, the next store launched in Sudbury's west end. Those two now operate as seasonal locations, only open for the summer months.

The next location is a restaurant in a...