Tom Sacco, a veteran of 48 years in the restaurant industry, was retired in 2020. Then, an iconic Midwest pizza franchise, Happy Joe’s, made an intriguing offer.
Soon, Sacco found himself accepting a CEO role, for a franchise beloved by families throughout states like Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois. He was tasked with reviving a proud, 54-year-old franchise that had fallen on hard times.
“For the first six months I went to every Happy Joe’s in the country, and when I went into them they all felt like I was going into my grandma’s home; they were comforting, with lots of black and white photography of kids’ birthday parties and families – and dated,” Sacco recalled.
He felt compelled to rebuild a Midwest institution.
“Happy Joe’s, to me, is like a modern-day version of the Norman Rockwell lifestyle,” Sacco told The Food Institute.
“When I was recruited to the brand, I was amazed at how many people I would talk to at the grocery store, or CVS, or Walmart (that said) ‘Let me tell you: every Sunday, after church, we go to Happy Joe’s.’ Or, ‘Every birthday we take our kids to Happy Joe’s.’ There were just all these personal, emotional connections that had taken place with the brand.”
The CEO came to a conclusion: the key to rebuilding Happy Joe’s would be leaning into a sense of community, and nostalgia.
Winning Back Families
The Iowa-based chain of pizza parlors once had more than 70 locations dotting the Midwest. Business challenges struck Happy Joe’s, however, earlier this century. By 2017, the number of Happy Joe’s locations had been whittled to 28. Then, founder Joe Whitty died in 2019.
By 2022, the company had filed for bankruptcy, as noted by the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Happy Joe’s had lost its way, Sacco noted. Due in part to Coronavirus-related quarantines, some franchisees converted their locations to “delco” (delivery and carryout-only) units. Such decisions proved ill-fated, Sacco said, mainly because they strayed from what made Happy Joe’s so popular in the 1980s and ‘90s: the restaurants served as small-town gathering places, where families could host their daughter’s 11th birthday party, or dads could have a beer and watch the Bears on TV.
While some pizza chains have shifted away from sit-down locations, Happy Joe’s plans to embrace them.
Now, Sacco noted, “we’re just trying to keep it really focused on the family unit – on making sure (Happy Joe’s) is always kid-centered.
“We have really tried to stay as close to the Happy Joe’s legacy as we can.”
Photo Credit: Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream
The Happy Joe’s Recipe Book
Happy Joe’s has served comfort food since 1972. While ice cream, candy, (and arcade games) were fixtures at many of its locations, the franchise gained acclaim for innovating the Taco pizza – a menu item that few devotees hesitate to pay $25.99 for.
And, despite the franchise’s Midwest roots, Happy Joe’s offers some rather bold flavor profiles. The menu features pizzas with flavors including Canadian Bacon and Sauerkraut, BBQ Texas Brisket, and Crab Rangoon.
“We can’t compete in the lower-half of the pizza market … because they sell their products for 10 bucks. We have almost 10 dollars in cost in our pizzas, because we put on a lot more protein,” said Sacco, who previously helped lead the Ponderosa and Bonanza steakhouses.
“The one thing I learned is that there really isn’t anything that’s truly competitive to Happy Joe’s,” he added. “Our product is much more of a premium product, the environment is much more family centric. And the thing that I was fascinated by with Joe Whitty’s background was how untraditional and unique his flavor profiles were for pizza.
“I’ve been in the restaurant business a long time. In my wildest imagination, I could never see sauerkraut and Canadian bacon as popular pizza toppings – yet that’s our number-two seller.”
Joe Whitty had the foresight, after all, to realize that sauerkraut gets caramelized during the bacon process, giving it a sweet aftertaste that Upper Midwesterners adore.
Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream, Green Bay, WI | Photo Credit: Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream
What’s Cookin’
A decade ago, Happy Joe’s had a little more than two dozen locations. Sacco and company have boosted that number to 42 currently, with no less than four more sites set to open later this year.
The franchise’s footprint now extends beyond the Midwest, into Arizona. There’s even six Happy Joe’s in Egypt, where regulars can’t get enough of Mac N Cheese-flavored pizza.
As tends to happen with a franchise that’s more than 50 years old, some longtime Happy Joe’s franchisees have aged out, making succession planning a key element to Sacco’s rebuilding project. As a result, many of the franchise’s newer locations are owned by young operators and, as in Oro Valley, Arizona, new units boast a fresh, modern design.
Most of Happy Joe’s current and planned locations are in small towns or suburbs, like a location that’s set to open in Mendota Heights, Minnesota (near Minneapolis) in July.
Sacco told FI he has “commitments” for dozens of new locations in the pipeline.
“That’s what I’ve got, signed, sealed, and delivered,” the Happy Joe’s CEO said. “There’s a very heightened interest in the brand, because the brand is healthy.”
