Legendary Fort Worth Pizza Shop Expands and More Cronut Donuts Arrive — Mama’s Pizza and Parlor Doughnuts Are Making Moves

Founded in Fort Worth way back in 1968, Mama’s Pizza has become a local legend with its thick chewy, garlic butter-basted crust, chunky tomato sauce and plenty of cheese and toppings. Now, it’s expanding in a major way.

The first Dallas Mama’s Pizza restaurant recently opened, becoming the local institution’s ninth pizza shop. You can find at 11828 Inwood Road at the corner of Forest Lane.

Next up, Lake Worth is getting its own slice of the Mama’s Pizza pie. It’s moving into a space in Landmark Lakes Center at 5932 Quebec Street. It’s something of a comeback for this local pizza standout to have 10 restaurants again.

In the 1980s, Mama’s Pizza grew to 18 restaurants, including a few franchises. But when the economy went south, so did those franchises. Mama’s Pizza slimmed all the way back down to just one remaining restaurant on Berry Street near TCU. That lone pizza shop was inherited by Jordan Scott, who revived the hometown pizzeria, adding three more brick-and-mortar restaurants in rapid succession and relaunching the Mama’s Pizza franchise option in 2011.

“I don’t want to oversee more company stores, but would rather enlarge the scope of Mama’s through well-trained, well-run franchise operations,” Mama’s Pizza president Jordan Scott said at the time. “I think we can better expand through franchising.

Now, Mama’s Pizza seems to be in growth mode once again. People just can’t seem to get enough of that garlicky dough that is made fresh daily.

Parlor Doughnuts On A Roll

What goes better with pizza than. . . donuts? Parlor Doughnuts opened its first Texas donut shop in Lake Worth in 2021. And that’s just the start of its Texas plans.

Another new Parlor Dougnuts will open in Southlake at 410 W. Southlake Boulevard, Suite 140 by the end of October, according to a Parlor spokesman. While the exact addresses of the other new Texas shops and opening timelines are not available yet, Parlor Doughnuts confirms that three additional Texas shops are in the works. One is headed to Denton, another to Plano and one’s reaching beyond North Texas to Houston.

Parlor Doughnuts was founded in February 2019 in Evansville, Indiana by Darrick Hayden and Josh Tudela. Its cronut style doughnuts have tender flaky layers that can wake up the sleepiest of sleepyheads in the morning. Parlor also offers craft coffee drink and decadent Doughboy milkshakes.

The budding chain boasted only 12 shops across the country when PaperCity Fort Worth got its first taste of the Lake Worth Parlor Doughnuts back in the September if 2021. Now, Parlor Doughnuts is in 14 states with more than 40 current and soon to open locations. What a difference a year makes.

The donuts at Parlor are small-batch wonders with fresh and interesting glazes. There are more than 20 flavors to choose from. These include a powder sugar-laden raspberry filled donut, the oh-so-fall-flavored maple pecan donut, an orange-glazed dreamcicle donut and even a raspberry-glazed pistachio-dusted number.

One thing’s for certain. Mama’s Pizza and Parlor Doughnuts are banking on the dough.