Pita Pit's National Conference 2011

This week was Pita Pit USA's 5th National Franchise Conference. The conference was held in Atlanta, GA from Tuesday, November 8th - Thursday, November 10th and was a lot of fun for everyone in attendance.

During the conference, Pita Pit had 2 guest speakers, keynote speaker Mark Scharenbroich and Nick Powills, CEO of No Limit Media Consulting. Pita Pit's corporate staff also recapped everything that occurred in 2011, including our participation in Dine Out for No Kid Hungry program and the Pulled Pork Pita and Black Bean Pita, and highlighted the exciting things to come in 2012.

There were a 120 people who attended this years conference, and this included our fellow franchisees in Canada, Korea and New Zealand! This provided us with a great opportunity to learn about each other and the difference's there are in running Pita Pit's in different countries.

During our Award Ceremony on Thursday night, we gave out two major awards:

1. Rookie of the Year
2. Franchisee of the Year

The winner of "Rookie of the Year" was a father and daughter team, Christy and Bob Whitkop of Jacksonville Beach, Florida.

The winners of "Franchisee of the Year" was a husband and wife team, Dennis and Laura Sallee of Vancouver, Washington for their outstanding embodiment of Pita Pit's ideals and hard work.

Pita Pit featured on blog VRG.org

Pita Pit was recently featured on The Vegetarian Resource Group Blog in an article entitled, "Pita Pit Restaurant Chain Offers All-Vegetable Menu Items." The article discusses our Garden Pita that can include a large variety of veggies and that you have the choice between a pita or a Fork-style. The article continues to describe the available vegetarian toppings options, the falafel & hummus, and the spicy black bean burger pita. Currently, Pita Pit's veggie pitas make up 10% of all pitas sold. Click here to read the full article.

Pita Pit Restaurant Chain Offers All-Vegetable Menu Items

By: Jeanne Yacoubou, MS, VRG Research Director

Vegetarians and vegans looking for, according to Pita Pit, “healthy food, not health food” may find it at Pita Pit. This quick service chain serving unconventional fare began in Canada in 1995. Pita Pit began United States franchising in 1999. Located throughout the US at over one hundred locations, Pita Pit offers white or wheat pita bread filled with several different all-vegetable items including hummus, falafel or a black bean patty. Pita Pit offers a Garden Pita made with your choice of a large variety of vegetables. Fork-style pita salads are also available. All pita dishes include choice of toppings, sauces, and a cheese for those who’d like one or more of them.

In June 2011, the VRG spoke with a senior staff member at the US Pita Pit corporate headquarters in Coeur d’Alene, ID who told us that currently their veggie pitas comprise approximately 10% of all pitas sold. The falafel and hummus are all-vegetable. Since May 2011, they have offered a spicy black bean burger pita without eggs in the patty. We were informed by Pita Pit that “It is a vegan product according to the box it comes in.” As of this writing, we have not yet heard from Pita Pit regarding the natural flavors in this product and in others thought suitable to vegans including the babaganoush (offered at http://www.vrg.org/fastfoodinfo.htmparticipating locations only) and the Teriyaki Sauce. There is no Ingredient Statement available on Pita Pit’s website.

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