New pizza franchise in Florida

The Gulf Coast pizza market will get a new player, one with a twist.

The entry is Papa Murphy's, a Vancouver, Wash.-based chain that sells uncooked fresh pizzas that consumers buy and bake at home. The concept is popular in some areas of the Northeast and Northwest, the latter of which is a large market for Papa Murphy's.

But the concept, while not novel, has yet to saturate Florida. That's why Papa Murphy's executives smell opportunity, says Stephen Maeker, the company's vice president of franchise sales. The chain, the fifth-largest pizza business in the country with 1,250 stores in 37 states, has seven stores in Florida, in the Jacksonville and Orlando areas.