How Khánh built Zalat Pizza into a 29-store powerhouse

Khánh never planned to open a pizza chain. He was a corporate lawyer who took over a failed lease next to his first Vietnamese restaurant and decided to try something new. With no kitchen experience, he spent months experimenting with dough and sauce, eventually opening the first Zalat Pizza in 2015. Today, Zalat has grown to 29 locations across Dallas, Houston, and Austin, and Khánh has become known for his relentless commitment to quality.

That obsession shows up in the systems he’s built. By the fourth store, it became clear that success required more than hustle. He developed infrastructure, hired operators, and created a daily quality control ritual called PAX, where each store makes a pizza, rates it, and shares feedback. Dough is made at a commissary, but everything else is still prepped in-store. The mission is to scale without sacrificing what makes each slice special.

Zalat’s marketing is just as intentional. Led by a data-focused director nicknamed Blockchain, the brand uses a CRM to tailor promotions and predict buying habits. They track every campaign across Meta, Google, and X to keep acquisition costs low and results high. Influencer marketing adds buzz, but everything ties back to one thing: building a brand that feels local, even at 29 stores and counting.