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Revision as of 05:36, 17 November 2020

Happy Joe's
Company typePrivately held company
IndustryRestaurant
FoundedBettendorf, Iowa (1972; 52 years ago (1972))
FounderLawrence Joseph "Happy Joe" Whitty
Headquarters
Bettendorf, Iowa
,
U.S.
Number of locations
52 stores (2016)
ProductsItalian-American cuisine
pizza · pasta · desserts
Websitewww.happyjoes.com
Happy Joe's
Born
Lawrence Joseph Whitty

1936/1937
Died29 October 2019(2019-10-29) (aged 82)

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 located in the Midwestern United States (Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin).[1] The idea for Happy Joe's came from a combination of a pizza parlor and ice cream palace.

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).[2] After a franchisee suggested adding tacos to the menu, Whitty invented the restaurant's best-selling product, the Taco Pizza.[3] In 2005, Happy Joe's started offering breakfast pizzas at select locations.[4] In 2013, Happy Joe's started offering flatbread pizzas.[1] Happy Joe's offers gluten-free crusts. It also features outlandish birthday parties.[5]

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.[6] A follow-up restaurant in Coralville was lost to floods in 2008,[7] but it was rebuilt and continued to operate.[8]

In the late 2000's, A Rudy's Tacos/Happy Joe's combo restaurant opened up in Coal Valley, Illinois. Here, you can get Mexican food from Rudy's, or pizza from Happy Joe's. The menu is also a big menu combining the menus of both restaurants. It also features a mini-golf course as well.

In 2015, Happy Joe's started a new restaurant concept known as Happy Joe's Pizza Grille. While the restaurant features pizza and the chain's signature Joegurt, it also has non-pizza fare such as Reubens and burgers. It also features traditional restaurant service, where you get a waiter/waitress and a menu in contrast to the standard pizza-only restaurants. There are two pizza grille locations, one in Milan, Illinois, and another in Davenport, Iowa.

On October 29th, 2019, Happy Joe Whitty died at the age of 82 at the Clarissa C. Cook Hospice Center.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b jturner@qconline.com, Jonathan Turner. "Joe Whitty recalls a life filled with happiness". Dispatch-Argus-QCOnline. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  2. ^ "Review: Happy Joe's Pizza keeps it fun with wacky pies". azcentral. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  3. ^ "Made in the Quad Cities". Visit Quad Cities. Archived from the original on 2017-08-03.
  4. ^ "Happy Joe's Pizza revamps with 'Cafez' concept". www.pizzamarketplace.com. 2005-08-21. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  5. ^ "Sum of Your Business: "Happy" Joe Whitty - I Love Inspire(d)". I Love Inspire(d). 2016-03-08. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  6. ^ Lemmon, Dustin. "Iowa City still recovering from tornadoes". The Quad-City Times. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  7. ^ "Fire destroys Anamosa restaurant". Radio Iowa. 2010-11-01. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  8. ^ "Coralville council approves new spot for Asian market | Corridor Business Journal". www.corridorbusiness.com. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  9. ^ lcook@qctimes.com, Linda Cook. "'Happy Joe' Whitty, 82, died Tuesday morning". Dispatch-Argus-QCOnline.
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