Gourmet pizza chain Crust has just celebrated its 100th store with the opening of the Robina outlet in the Gold Coast, Queensland, an event that also marked the company’s 10th birthday.  

And the growth is set to continue, promised co-founder Costa Anastasiadis. “Crust has turned an important corner. We’ve been steadily branching out across the country, increasing our footprint nationally, and taking our quality product offering into most of the major regional centres.”  

Anastasiadis and co-founder Michael Logos celebrated the newest store alongside local celebrities, Crust’s Queensland franchisees, and franchise industry figures.  

The Robina franchisees, Damian Richens and Rachael Humphries, are also the owners of the Dee Why Crust outlet in Sydney’s northern beaches. For the first six months of trading Richens will head up the new Robina store and look for a strong management team while Humphries oversees the Dee Why outlet.  

Richens told Franchising “We always wanted to be multi-unit franchisees. Sydney has started to fill up and we knew the potential here, we like the Gold Coast, we used to live here. The infrastructure is good.”  

The Crust site is opposite the Robina train station and the new NRL stadium, with a hospital and planned council building as neighbours. “The rent is on a par with Sydney,” Richens said.  

Outdoor seating is a part of the store’s footprint, and a liquor licence is planned too.  

“Crust is a great model. They’re market leaders,” said Richens.

Click here for the Franchising Facebook page to see pix from the night