From the start, Donatos founder Jim Grote used precise measurements to ensure consistency and turned the “pizza fad” into a 154-location powerhouse. In 1963, Jim Grote’s dad famously warned him, “This whole pizza thing is just a fad.” But with $1,300 borrowed from his father and future father-in-law, Grote opened his first Donatos (donatos.com) pizzeria…
Founded in 1953, this Omaha, Nebraska, fixture attracts skilled employees with health insurance and tuition assistance, employs social media and recently rolled out a food truck. After husband and wife Joe and Sebastiana Patane had immigrated from Sicily as young adults, Joe made a living as a carpenter, eventually starting his own fixture company in the basement…
This beloved Midwest institution started out as a fruit market in a town that knew little about pizza. Val and Zena Weiler owned a fruit market in Lincoln, Nebraska, in the 1950s, but they feared the larger grocery chains would muscle them out of business. Their solution? Open a pizzeria instead! Thus, in July 1957,…
With its fleet of VW Bugs, dancing waiters and hippie attitude, this laidback pizzeria has been rocking Stillwater, Oklahoma, since 1957. Opened in 1957, Hideaway Pizza (hideawaypizza.net) was Oklahoma’s second pizzeria, but it probably would have gone under if Richard Dermer, at age 20, hadn’t taken the helm in 1960. That decade ushered in both…
Even his mother doubted people would pay good money for this thing called “pizza,” but Gus Fricano persisted—and gained a bona fide cult following. In the early 1950s, tavern owner Cosimo Fricano (known as Gus) decided that his menu needed a boost. After seeing a sign that advertised something called “pizza” near Wrigley Field in…
This Twin Cities icon strikes an amazing balance between heritage, modernity and innovation. After Italian immigrant John Spallacci opened a bar in Minneapolis in 1953, he decided to cook up a little finger food for hungry patrons—and what better pick than pizza? Eddie Peck bought the operation (and the now-beloved cracker-crust pizza recipe) in 1961…
