Seattle-Based MOD Pizza Announces Plans for Redmond Store

Redmond's Bella Bottega shopping center will soon be home to a new pizza shop.

Seattle-based MOD Pizza announced Friday it will open two new locations in Redmond and Sammamish later this year. The Redmond store will be located next to in the Bella Bottega shopping center and is expected to open by late summer or early fall.

“We’re hoping for the end of August," said Charlotte Wayte, a spokeswoman for the pizza chain. "It’s kind of vague at this point, but that’s the plan.”

MOD has six stores in Seattle, Bellevue and Lynnwood. Wayte said the Redmond location will serve beer and wine and feature an outdoor patio with seating for up to 30 people.

The company's announcement comes a little less than a year after , another local pizza chain, at the base of the apartment building. 

Wayte said MOD differs from other local competitors by focusing on personal pizzas that patrons can customize any way they wish. All pies are the same price—$6.88—regardless of the toppings.

“So it’s sort of like a Chipotle concept...fast (and) casual, but really good, really fresh," Wayte said.

The company is owned by husband and wife Ally and Scott Svenson of Medina who sold their London-based coffee business, called Seattle Coffee Company, to Starbucks in 1998. A few Starbucks advisers and former executives are also MOD advisers, Wayte said.

MOD expects to hire 60 people for the new stores in Redmond and Sammamish. Job seekers should send an email to jobs@modpizza.com to ask about available positions, Wayte said.

Bella Bottega has seen a  in the past several months, including the  and the  and . Many storefronts between the hospital and movie theater are still vacant.