The popular Black-owned and operated pizza chain Slim and Husky’s has grown exponentially within the short five years it has existed. Since 2017, the brand has opened 11 stores and has crossed state borders into Georgia, California, and soon Texas.
Soon, Slim and Husky’s wants to add storefronts to “every major city in the South,” and has plans to add anywhere from 5-10 locations, including in Tennessee, over the next year or two throughout the suburbs of Nashville, according to a Q&A with The Nashville Business Journal.
Most recently, Slim and Husky’s opened an outpost inside the Ascension St. Thomas Hospital food court this month, which is noted to be an area of heavy foot traffic for guests to easily access the freshly-fired pizzas. A store inside Nashville’s BNA Airport is also slated to open in September.
Founded and co-owned by Clinton Gray, Derrick Moore and Emanuel Reed, the successful restaurant originally came into the world on a shared dream inside of a garage in 2015. According to its website, “The clever name came from a joke the longtime friends have been laughing about for years. One of them has always been a slim guy, but the other two were always big fellas, forcing their mothers to shop for clothing in the children’s husky section.”
In terms of when and where the next Tennessee stores are going to open, the trio has said it will be less reliant on the markers they have previously used and will focus more on strategic numbers.
“We’ve been getting very scientific with our site selection. These next, five, ten locations that you see in the next year or two, they’ll be driven less heavily on feel and more heavy on data,” Derrick Moore stated to the Journal.
Some of the popular menu items at Slim and Husky’s include the P.R.E.A.M, which is named after the business’ slogan, “pizza rules everything around me,” and comes with a white sauce base, mushrooms, onions, spinach, pepperoni and Italian sausage. Slim and Husky’s also specializes in serving a variety of flavored cinnamon rolls and features locally brewed beers on tap.
What Now Nashville reached out for comment but did not immediately hear back.
