A Michigan restaurant company is planning to open a fast-casual pizza franchise in a Grand Rapids suburb.

Livonia-based TEAM Schostak Family Restaurants, or TSFR, said this week it is planning to open a MOD Pizza franchise in Walker, at 3300 Alpine Ave. NW.

TSFR expects to open its doors in late 2018.

The company’s MOD Pizza Brand Leader Jake Schostak called the move a “major milestone” for TSFR.

“We are excited to bring the original super-fast pizza to Grand Rapids,” he said. “At MOD, we make pizza so we can serve people. We call it ‘spreading MODness.’”

MOD Pizza uses fresh-pressed dough and signature sauces for its pizzas, including MOD red sauce and MOD white sauce. Customers can build their own pizzas and salads, choosing from 30 toppings, or they can choose from a menu of MOD classics.

MOD also offers local draft beer and wine, as well as house-made milkshakes, lemonades and iced teas.

The company plans to hire 30 people to staff the location.

TEAM Schostak Family Restaurants

TSFR is a family-owned restaurant group with a portfolio of 65 Applebee’s locations, 26 Olga’s Kitchen locations and five Del Taco locations.

In 2014, TSFR announced plans to launch 25 MOD Pizza restaurants in Michigan and has since opened 11 locations, with others now underway in Southgate and Kalamazoo.

MOD

MOD Pizza was founded in Seattle in 2008 by Scott Svenso and Ally Svenso.

The brand has more than 280 locations across 26 states and the U.K.