Giordano's, the Chicago-based deep-dish pizza chain, will open a new location inside Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota on July 16, expanding its retail and foodservice footprint into one of North America's highest-traffic consumer destinations.
The unit will offer the brand's signature stuffed deep-dish pizza alongside a grab-and-go service format and a selection of retail-exclusive products — a configuration that signals the operator is targeting both dine-in traffic and the souvenir-oriented impulse purchase that defines successful mall-adjacent food concepts.
Why Mall of America
Mall of America draws an estimated 40 million visitors annually, making it a proving ground for restaurant brands seeking national visibility without committing to a traditional multi-unit rollout. For Giordano's, whose identity is closely tied to Chicago's culinary tourism appeal, the location extends that regional brand narrative to a venue that actively markets itself as a destination rather than a local retail corridor.
The inclusion of retail exclusives — a format increasingly deployed by regional pizza operators looking to monetise brand equity beyond the restaurant — suggests Giordano's is treating the Mall of America unit as both a foodservice play and a merchandising channel. Packaged deep-dish kits and branded goods have become a meaningful revenue line for legacy pizza concepts navigating post-pandemic consumer behaviour, where at-home recreation of restaurant favourites remains elevated. Food & Beverage Magazine has tracked this retail pivot across several independent pizza operators in recent quarters.
Broader Expansion Context
The Mall of America opening fits a wider pattern among regional pizza chains pursuing selective high-visibility expansion rather than aggressive unit-count growth. Operators in the full-service pizza segment have increasingly favoured marquee locations — stadiums, entertainment complexes, and destination malls — where foot traffic is structurally guaranteed and brand awareness among out-of-market consumers compounds over time. That strategy carries lower site risk than speculative suburban builds but demands operational formats, such as grab-and-go, that can handle volume spikes without full table-service infrastructure.
Giordano's deep-dish format, with its longer bake times relative to thin-crust competitors, makes the grab-and-go component particularly noteworthy from an operations standpoint. Pre-baking and holding protocols for stuffed deep-dish represent a meaningful back-of-house challenge; the Mall of America unit's success in that format could inform future non-traditional site development across the chain. For context on how pizza operators are adapting non-traditional venue formats, the category has seen increased experimentation with partial-service and kiosk-adjacent models over the past 18 months.
No financial terms, unit economics, or broader expansion targets were disclosed in connection with the announcement. Details on the retail product range were not provided beyond confirmation of exclusive offerings at the location. Industry observers will watch whether the Mall of America unit becomes a template for further non-traditional development or remains a standalone brand-building exercise for the Chicago operator.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
