MOD Pizza & Seattle Coffee Company: Scott and Ally Svenson

A relentless hunt for their favorite foods and drinks led Scott and Ally Svenson into launching not one but two multi-million dollar businesses. The first came about in 1990s London when they discovered that British coffee meant instant coffee. So, the Washington natives decided to start the Seattle Coffee Company in the U.K, inspired by their love of Starbucks—which was still only in the U.S. But, once Starbucks started to go global, Scott and Ally decided to sell and move back to Seattle. They soon found themselves looking for quick, affordable, crowd-pleasers to feed their growing boys on busy nights; pizza is a good solution, but it can also be slow and expensive. So Scott and Ally wondered if they could figure out how to make individual, fast-casual pizza work; and they started MOD pizza as a one-store experiment. 15 years and more than 500 locations later, Scott and Ally have their answer: they can make it work. This episode was produced by J.C. Howard, with music by Ramtin Arablouei Edited by Andrea Bruce, with research help from Casey Herman. You can follow HIBT on Twitter & Instagram, and email us at hibt@id.wondery.com. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Guy Raz interviews the world’s best-known entrepreneurs to learn how they built their iconic brands. In each episode, founders reveal deep, intimate moments of doubt and failure, and share insights on their eventual success. How I Built This is a master-class on innovation, creativity, leadership and how to navigate challenges of all kinds.New episodes on Mondays and Thursdays. Listen to How I Built This on the Wondery App or wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can listen early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts. Start your free trial by visiting https://wondery.com/links/how-i-built-this now. Get your How I Built This merch at WonderyShop.com/HowIBuiltThis.