However, Wiley said his newest restaurant venture, Rapid Fired Pizza, is being run out of the Kettering offices where he works still.
Hot Head’s new West Chester address is more centrally located and closer to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, which gives the company access to more flights, Wiley said.
“We had an opportunity on a piece of real estate that worked for us and got us right on the highway,” he said.
Hot Head Burritos boosted its national footprint this week with the opening of its first Nevada location in Las Vegas as well as its first location in Connecticut.
The franchise-owned restaurant in Las Vegas marks the chain’s first location west of the Mississippi River. The Las Vegas franchise owners will open a second location in March and a third in the region later this year, according to a Hot Head Burritos spokeswoman.
The Windsor Locks, Conn., location is the first of what could be as many as 20 locations in the northern Connecticut and central Massachusetts region over the next few years, a number that could grow to 40 in subsequent years.
Hot Head’s footprint now extends to eight states — Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, Connecticut and Nevada — and includes more than 70 restaurants, according to the company.
Wiley is also the co-founder of fast casual chain Rapid Fired Pizza, which launched with its first location in Washington Twp. near Dayton on Ohio 725 last year. More locations are in the works in Sugarcreek Twp., Huber Heights and in Fairborn near Wright State University.
Plans are to open 20 Rapid Fired locations by the end of the year, Wiley said.
“I would say Rapid Fired will grow much faster than Hot Head and become much larger than Hot Head,” Wiley said. “There’s a higher level of interest from franchises.”
Both chains prepare orders in front of customers in an assembly line similar to competitor Chipotle.
Staff Writer Mark Fisher contributed to this report
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