QUINCY — Two Quincy residents have teamed up with Pita Pit to establish the national chain’s 600th store location in Quincy.

Joel Martin and Brandon Schaapman are opening the city’s first Pita Pit at 402 Central Ave. S. next Friday, Feb. 26. The store’s grand opening will begin with a Quincy Valley Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting ceremony before doors open at 9 a.m.

Martin and Schaapman are Pita Pit fanatics and had been traveling to Ephrata from Quincy on a regular basis to eat at the neighboring city’s Pita Pit. Martin said he and Schaapman love the food and customer service, which is where the idea of becoming franchisees and opening a Pita Pit in Quincy really started.

The two were “sitting around one day talking about potential business ideas,” Martin said, and Pita Pit came up.

“We thought Pita Pit would fit well in Quincy and would bring some new food options to town,” he said.

Martin grew up in Modesto, Calif. and has lived in the Columbia Basin for six years, and business partner Schaapman is a Quincy native. The duo reached out to Pita Pit last August to get the franchising process underway. Schaapman, a local potato farmer, juggled the impending harvest with the preliminary business conversations with Martin, who previously worked in human resources for ConAgra Foods.

After harvest, the pair of prospective franchisees went to Pita Pit’s Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, headquarters for a “discovery day.” They met company department heads and presented themselves, their backgrounds, and their plans for the Quincy franchise.

Martin said both sides felt positive after the discovery day. In fact, he said it usually takes at least a few days for Pita Pit executives to accept or reject potential franchisees after a discovery day, but it didn’t take that long for the Quincy partners.

“They had made the decision that day before we had even left Coeur d’Alene to approve us as a franchise,” Martin said.

Pita Pit Vice President of Franchise Development Bill Wilfong said Martin and Schaapman immediately appeared to be a great fit for the brand.

“We like people that are involved in their communities that already know people and can get the word out,” Wilfong said. “It just looked like it was going to be a good fit all the way around.”

Community involvement will be on the launching pad for Quincy’s new Pita Pit — Martin and Schaapman will donate half of the profits from the store’s opening day to Serve Quincy Valley and the Quincy School Boosters Club.

“We both have a passion for giving back to the community,” Martin said, “and that’s one way to show that we are not out-of-towners that are coming in and opening up this business. We have roots here and we want to be involved with the community as the business goes forward.”

“Ultimately, if Pita Pit is successful, then we have some other ideas in mind for Quincy down the road.”

Martin said he and Schaapman are seeking to fill about 20 to 25 positions before the grand opening next Friday. Pita Pit stores typically operate with between 10 and 15 employees, a range which Martin said they will eventually settle into after the dust settles from the store’s opening. He said the store is still screening applicants and a few positions remain available.

The grand opening Feb. 26 is fit to be chock-full of excitement. Three radio stations in the area will be on hand throughout the day to broadcast from the Quincy store. Martin said there will be specials throughout the opening weekend, and customers will be entered to win major prize giveaways, including a pair of tickets to a Kenny Chesney concert in Seattle and a pair of tickets to Watershed, the three-day country music festival hosted at the Gorge Amphitheatre.

In addition, Pita Pit executives will be on hand for the grand opening in Quincy to celebrate the opening of the chain’s 600th store — “a nice milestone for the company,” Wilfong said. They will be giving out some Pita Pit “swag” to customers, too, he said.

“Quincy in particular is a great store just because we do really well in small markets,” Wilfong said. “We have a really good presence in the Northwest and those smaller towns, they like to have some of the national brands come through that definitely have a Northwest appeal.”

For more information on the Quincy Pita Pit’s opening, store hours, and more, visit the store’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/PitaPitQuincy.