The Story (Our Beginning)
Crust Lab Pizza began its journey as Konz Pizza, the brainchild of executive chef and restaurant veteran Kris Lawrie, who transformed a 2014 concept into a thriving food trailer in Kelowna, BC, by the summer of 2015. Following two seasons of massive success, Kris pivoted to a franchise model and opened his first storefront in Edmonton in 2017, eventually evolving the brand into Crust Lab Pizza to better reflect its innovative approach to the craft. Built on the core philosophy that franchisees are true partners and family members rather than just owners, the brand has focused on recruiting passionate thinkers who want to build something extraordinary. This commitment to collaboration and quality has fueled our expansion from a single mobile unit to over 20 locations across Canada, stretching from BC to Ontario—and we are just getting started.
Family
Family means having someone to support you unconditionally in spite of your shortcomings.
Families nurture and support one another even when it’s not easy. A family is a group of people going through the world together. Family is one of the most important and valuable gifts of our lives.
The word “Family” itself is so important that it means to feel secure with people around you whom you can always count on, you can share your problems with, people you can trust, and people who can always boost your mood. This is the core foundation of Crust Lab Pizza and why we do what we do as a company.
Food
Crust Lab Pizza traces its roots back to the 1990s in Scotland, where executive chef Kris Lawrie immersed himself in the UK’s burgeoning street food scene and refined his craft in prestigious kitchens—even cooking where the Queen frequently dined. These experiences solidified his passion for culinary innovation, leading him to experiment with unique ingredients and reimagine classic favorites into exciting, portable recipes. Originally launched as Konz Pizza with a Kelowna food trailer in 2015, the concept’s immediate success led to a 2017 franchise expansion in Edmonton and an eventual evolution into the Crust Lab Pizza brand. Today, that same spirit of “street food” creativity remains the heart of our business, fueling a growing family of over 20 locations from BC to Ontario that treats every franchisee as a partner in culinary excellence.