LeBron James invested in a pizza company that’s offering more than just pies. James’ stake in Blaze Pizza is proving to be a profitable investment for the NBA star. After investing into the business in 2012, Blaze’s assembly line pizza concept has grown from two to 200 franchises in four years, according to Forbes. James turned down a $14 million deal with McDonald’s to go and invest in a product that guaranteed him ownership and several franchises off the rip. As mentioned on Uninterrupted’s “Kneading Dough,” James said it Blaze’s pizza that initially attracted him. “I believed in the actual product, first,” James said. “I remember going to UC Irvine, the first-ever Blaze, and we tasted the product and the product was phenomenal … And you came to me with the proposition that we actually own our own and be franchisees of a couple cities in America. And the numbers that you were showing me, the numbers that we could make if we just put the time in effort into it, would be exceeding what McDonald’s would be giving me guaranteed over the next four years. “But more importantly, I think for me, it was like, ‘Oh wow, we get to actually build this.’ Forget the money, we could actually build something. And if it doesn’t become successful, then I can only blame myself.” “I was like, ‘Who doesn’t like pizza?’ I don’t know a person in the world who doesn’t like pizza, I don’t care what kind of diet you’re on!” According to Forbes, Blaze does have a 5-year goal: franchise internationally and go public with a billion-dollar valuation. Photo credit: SBNation.com
