Washington, D.C.-based &Pizza is now part of a restaurant portfolio after its leadership acquired another concept and formed a holding company. Tijuana Flats, a 30-year-old fast-casual Tex-Mex concept, joins &Pizza under the new Latitude Food Group.
It’s a busy time for leadership at &pizza, with the formation of a new holding company after acquiring Tex-Mex concept Tijuana Flats.
CEO Mike Burns is embracing the rapid growth with a simple mantra: “Go fast.”
Mike Burns came on as CEO of &pizza in 2023 and is now the CEO of Latitude Food Group.
That mantra, Burns said, is reflected in the acronym of the recently launched Latitude Food Group, LFG, which can also mean “let’s go” with a certain expletive in the middle. It was with that mindset that &pizza moved forward from what began as casual conversations about the company’s future.
About nine months ago, Burns said informal discussions about forming a holding company began as a means to grow faster by having access to resources across multiple brands. Those conversations soon led to scouting other restaurant concepts.
“We started to explore from afar,” Burns said. “Tijuana Flats and probably three or four other groups started showing up on our radar. But we liked Tijuana Flats from the beginning based on the restaurants being consolidated in the state of Florida mostly. It makes it easy from a supply chain standpoint, making it just two distribution centers, as opposed to something scattered along the East Coast.”
Burns added he found the brand to be cool and quirky, which reminded him of the company he’s led for two years.
Founded in 2012 by Michael Lastoria, &pizza has 45 company-owned locations across the Maryland, Virginia and D.C. after closing about a dozen underperforming units last year. Kennedy Lewis Investment Management bought a majority stake in the company in 2023 and brought Burns on as CEO in November of that year. In the time since, he’s worked to level-set operations while revamping the brand’s tech stack.
The biggest moves have come in 2025, and it didn’t start with this recent news. Earlier this year, &pizza established its franchise system, and since then signed development agreements for 12 units across Atlanta, Charleston, South Carolina, Raleigh, North Carolina, and Orlando, Florida. The goal, Burns said, is to have 250 to 300 restaurants open by 2030, and flip the ratio on how many are company-owned.
Related: Launch of Franchise System Signals New Start for &pizza
“We want to be 90 percent franchised and 10 percent corporate,” Burns said. “It allows us to keep our team small and grow our footprint. We can operate in the markets we’re based in, like D.C., but if we want to open in Atlanta or Orlando, we’d have to relocate people to those cities. I still want to grow in those markets where people live, though.”
Burns, who’s held roles at franchisors Bojangles and Rave Restaurant Group, knew the solution was bringing on more operators in other cities.
&Pizza is now part of the Latitude Food Group portfolio with Tex-Mex brand Tijuana Flats.
“The group that bought the Orlando market, they live there and they have other restaurant concepts that are successful there,” Burns said. “That allows them to focus on their community. We feel like they can put the love into those restaurants and give them the attention that we might not be able to because of where we’re located.”
Onboarding Tijuana Flats
Franchising also gives the brand the ability to scale quicker, Burns said, allowing &pizza to fulfill his mantra. The expectation is the same with Tijuana Flats.
Founded in 1995, Tijuana Flats has 95 locations, most of them in its home state of Florida and with other units in Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee. Twenty-six are franchise units.
“It’s got great food,” Burns said. “I visited about a third of the restaurants during our process, and they were all consistent and the people were friendly. It also checked a lot of the same boxes as &pizza. Yes, they sell Mexican food, but it’s the same bones. The same vibe.”
While the brand has good vibes, it hasn’t been without its share of challenges. In April 2024, the brand filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after closing about 40 restaurants. The filing was part of an effort to sell the brand to different owners, Flatheads LLC.
The bankruptcy was largely attributed to the concept’s then-lender, Truist Bank, which put a requirement on the company to pay a sum of $1.2 million in an interest reserve. The strain compounded existing struggles in the post-pandemic period.
Burns said the new owners were able to help Tijuana Flats emerge from bankruptcy and prime it for a new era.
“I liked the fact that they came out of Chapter 11, and came out strong,” Burns said. “They’re in good shape and the restaurants aren’t falling down. They’ve consolidated their portfolio, and all that work is done. So, you come in with a clean slate. The previous leadership did a good job cleaning it up. So, we’re just going to focus on the operations and marketing. There’s no nonsense to deal with.”
A shared vision
As Tijuana Flats enters its new era, Burns said Latitude Food Group will make it a point to keep each brand’s unique identity in the portfolio, but provide a holistic approach to leadership.
Tijuana Flats offers a range of Tex-Mex menu items, including tacos, burritos and chimichangas
“It allows us to have one voice,” Burns said. “I’ll run both brands, and it allows me to be the same with strategy on both sides. Obviously, there are different strategies for each brand, but we can overall move in the same direction. It also allows us to share services for finance, HR and IT.”
He said this extends to unified systems to handle payroll, and to pay vendors on the same accounts. Additionally, it will streamline and enhance the supply chain.
“The supply chain is huge for us,” Burns said. “Tacos and pizza, they’re both cheese, sauce, vegetables and protein. So, you can go back to vendors and ask to sell us all the same stuff. It gives us buying power, and once you hit that 100-unit mark, more people start to pay attention to you as well.”
As both brands prep for future growth, its leadership will be on the lookout for franchisees with industry experience and a willingness to open several restaurants. Burns said the goal is to have people sign deals for a minimum of three location and a desire to build more.
“We’d like people to have restaurant experience, whether it’s with a different brand, either in company operations or as a franchisee,” Burns said. “You never say never on some folks, though. If someone comes in without food experience, but has run 10 hotels, they have business experience, so we’ll explore those avenues as well.”
As for expanding the portfolio itself, Burns said he’s interested in adding more brands in the future, but leadership is focused on getting its first addition right. In the next three to six months, though, Burns said his team will begin looking at other concepts in the QSR, fast-casual or casual dining space.