Type privately held company Headquarters Bettendorf, Iowa, U.S. | Industry Restaurant Number of locations 52 stores (2016) | |
Founded Bettendorf, Iowa (1972 (1972)) Founder Lawrence Joseph "Happy Joe" Whitty | ||
Happy Joe's Pizza & Ice Cream Parlor is an American pizza parlor chain based in Bettendorf, Iowa. The restaurant chain was founded in 1972 by Lawrence Joseph "Happy Joe" Whitty, a former Shakey's Pizza manager. Its 61 restaurants are mostly located in the Midwestern United States (in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin)., although the company is also present in Arizona. The idea for Happy Joe's came from a combination of a pizza parlor and ice cream palace.
Contents
Products
Happy Joe's claims to be the first pizza restaurant to offer a taco pizza (a pizza with refried bean/tomato sauce, cheese, lettuce, tomato and taco chips). After a franchisee suggested adding tacos to the menu, Whitty invented the restaurant's best-selling product, the Taco Pizza. In 2005, Happy Joe's started offering breakfast pizzas at select locations. In 2013, Happy Joe's started offering flatbread pizzas. It also features outlandish birthday parties.
History
The Happy Joe's location on Gilbert Street in Iowa City, Iowa was destroyed by a tornado on April 13, 2006, part of the Easter Week 2006 Tornado Outbreak Sequence. A follow-up restaurant in Coralville was lost to floods in 2008,but it was rebuilt and continued to operate.
Rankings
Happy Joe's was ranked #468 on Entrepreneur's 2017 Franchise 500.