Free pizza at Blaze Pizza grand opening in Fresno Friday

Blaze Pizza has opened its first restaurant in Fresno and is giving away free pizzas Friday, Sept. 11.

The pizza place at 1089 E. Shaw Ave., near First Street, sells build-your-own personal-sized pizzas and opened Thursday.

But back to the important part: Blaze will be giving away free pizzas from 10:30 a.m. to midnight for anyone who follows Blaze on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

This is the second Blaze location in the central San Joaquin Valley; the Tulare restaurant opened in July.

Manager Carlos Mejia says he hopes to give away more pizzas than any other opening.

“We’re shooting for a record of 3,000,” he said. “We broke the record in Tulare. We broke the record in Tracy.”

Blaze makes 11-inch customizable pizzas. Customers choose from two kinds of dough (gluten free and regular), three kinds of sauce and eight kinds of cheeses (including a vegan cheese option). A huge array of toppings includes traditional ones, along with bacon, two kinds of meatballs and both chopped and whole roasted cloves of garlic.

This story was originally published September 10, 2015 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Free pizza at Blaze Pizza grand opening in Fresno Friday."