For years, Papool badgered Round Table Pizza's corporate office with the same request: bring a location to El Paso. The California transplant remembered the chain as the backdrop to his Little League games and childhood birthday parties, and he wanted that same slice of home in his adopted West Texas city. In June, his wish finally came true — just not in the way he expected.
Round Table Pizza's first-ever restaurant in El Paso didn't open on a city street corner. It opened inside a military installation. As reported by KVIA, the chain's parent company confirmed the new location sits inside the Global Reach Express Shoppette at Fort Bliss, at 13471 Sergeant Major Blvd — marking the pizza chain's first-ever location on a U.S. military base, according to a GlobeNewswire announcement from parent company FAT Brands Inc.
Papool and his wife weren't about to let base security stop them. Per the KVIA report, the couple applied for Community Access Passes, and those passes allowed them to walk onto Fort Bliss and finally eat at the restaurant that had eluded them for years.
Getting Onto the Base Isn't as Simple as Walking In
Civilians without a military ID can't just drive onto Fort Bliss and order a pizza. According to Freedom Crossing at Fort Bliss, non-affiliated visitors must obtain a free one-year Community Access Pass by presenting a REAL ID-compliant driver's license or state ID and passing a criminal background check. Once approved, pass holders can enter the base daily between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.
That process is what let Papool and his wife make it inside for a meal that, as he told KVIA, tastes like home and brings a piece of California to the borderland. It's a small bureaucratic hurdle for a pizza run, but one that underscores just how unusual this location is compared to a typical strip-mall storefront.
A Captive Customer Base Numbering in the Hundreds of Thousands
The move makes more sense when you consider the population Round Table Pizza is now tapping into. Fort Bliss directly supports 41,527 employees, including 30,288 active-duty military personnel, and serves a broader population of more than 176,000 service members, dependents, retirees, and civilian employees, according to the Texas Comptroller. That's the second-largest Army installation by land area in the country, and a built-in audience unlike anything Round Table Pizza could find on a regular commercial corner.
The base already has infrastructure built for exactly this kind of civilian-military crossover. Fort Bliss is home to Freedom Crossing, a public-private development with the Army & Air Force Exchange Service recognized as the world's only open-air shopping and dining complex located inside a military installation, per Visit El Paso.
Round Table's Roots Run Back to a California Redwood Table
Round Table Pizza's story goes back to 1959, when founder William R. Larson opened the first location in Menlo Park, California. The chain built its regional reputation across the West Coast with handcrafted dough rolled daily, a signature three-cheese blend, and medieval-themed “Pizza Royalty” branding, according to FAT Brands. Larson reportedly named the restaurant after round redwood tables he built with his father — a detail that helps explain why the brand carries such sentimental weight for people like Papool who grew up with it.
Round Table Pizza has most of its locations in California, and it's that West Coast concentration that made an El Paso outpost feel like such a long shot for so long. FAT Brands Inc. acquired the chain in July 2021 as part of its $442.5 million purchase of Global Franchise Group, folding Round Table Pizza into a portfolio that includes Fatburger, Johnny Rockets, Marble Slab Creamery, and Twin Peaks.
Why a Military Base, and Why Now
Round Table Pizza President David Pear said the Fort Bliss opening reflects a deliberate strategy. According to Franchise Times, Pear described the move as an expansion into non-traditional venues — military bases, airports, universities — designed to capture consistent, year-round customer traffic rather than compete for street-level foot traffic.
That strategy stands in contrast to Round Table Pizza's recent history in Texas. As Hoodline previously reported, the chain's regional footprint had shrunk after locations closed in San Antonio and Dallas-Fort Worth, leaving the nearest operating restaurants hundreds of miles away in Yuma, Arizona; Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Round Rock, Texas. Round Table Pizza corporate did not bring a restaurant to El Paso until the Fort Bliss location opened, and it arrived through a non-traditional real estate deal rather than a standard franchise buildout.
The expansion also comes as the chain navigates friction within its own franchise system. In November 2025, the Round Table Owners Association filed a lawsuit against FAT Brands in Los Angeles County, accusing the parent company of mismanaging national marketing funds and contributing to declining average unit sales, according to Restaurant Business. Franchisees operate virtually all of Round Table Pizza's more than 350 locations nationwide, making that dispute relevant to how aggressively the brand can grow beyond its core California base.
El Paso's Pizza Scene Keeps Growing Near the Base
Fort Bliss's pull on the local pizza market isn't limited to national chains. Earlier this month, independent takeout concept Heavenly Pizza Company opened in Northeast El Paso's Milagro Hills neighborhood, catering to residential corridors near the base where military families shape local dining demand, Hoodline reported. It's a sign that both corporate chains and independent operators see opportunity in the same military-adjacent customer pool that drew Round Table Pizza to Fort Bliss in the first place.
For Papool, the years of phone calls and emails to corporate finally amounted to something tangible: a pizza that tastes like the one from his childhood, now sitting inside a shoppette a Community Access Pass away.
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