Shakey's Pizza
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Shakey's Pizza is a pizza restaurant chain based in the United States. The chain currently has about 400 stores globally, and about 60 in the United States.
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[edit] History
Shakey's Pizza was founded in Sacramento, California, on April 30, 1954, by Sherwood "Shakey" Johnson and Ed Plummer. Johnson's nickname resulted from nerve damage following a bout of malaria suffered during World War II. The parlor opened on the first weekend, but since the pizza ovens were not yet completed,[1] only beer was served and Shakey took the profits from beer sales and bought ingredients for pizza the following Monday.
Shakey personally played dixieland jazz piano to entertain patrons. Shakey's initially became known outside Sacramento, not for its pizza, but for the jazz program it sponsored on a regional radio network. Shakey Johnson is honored in the Banjo Hall of Fame in Guthrie, Oklahoma, for his longtime use of banjo music at his pizza parlors. Other live music, including piano, was also a staple in the old Shakey's parlors.
The original store (a remodeled grocery store)[1] at 57th and J Streets in Sacramento remained in business until the mid 1990s.
Expansion
The second Shakey's Pizza Parlor opened in Portland, Oregon, in 1956. Shakey's opened their third parlor in Albany, Oregon in 1959 which was the first building Shakey's actually owned and the first building to be built in the distinct building style for which Shakey's is known. It now operates as a used bookstore. According to Johnson, Shakey's Pizza engaged in little market research and made most of its decisions on where to locate stores by going where Kinney Shoes opened stores. By the time Johnson sold his interest in 1967, there were 272 Shakey's Pizza Parlors in the United States. The first international store opened in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1968. By 1975, the company had expanded to the Pacific Rim, including Japan and the Philippines. There are now more branches in the Philippines than in the United States.
Sale to Colorado Milling
Shakey Johnson sold his half of the company for $3 million to Colorado Milling and Elevator in 1967, which acquired Plummer's half for $9 million the next year.
Second sale
Shakey's was again sold to Hunt International Resources in 1974. Two franchisees bought the chain in 1984 and they sold out to Inno-Pacific Holdings of Singapore in 1989. Most of the U. S. stores closed during the time Inno-Pacific owned the chain (two Shakey's restaurants in the Houston, Texas metro area were shuttered). Some of the remaining franchisees took Inno-Pacific to court in 2003.
Before this could come to trial, Shakey's was sold to Jacmar Companies of Alhambra, California, in 2004. Jacmar had been the franchisee of 19 Shakey's restaurants.
At the time Hunt International bought Shakey's in 1974, the restaurant chain had approximately 500 stores throughout the United States. As of 2008, there were 63 stores total, with 55 of them in California. There are two stores east of the Mississippi River: Warner Robins, Georgia and Auburn, Alabama. The West Allis, Wisconsin store closed on June 30, 2008.[2][3] Outside of California, only four Shakey's stores exist west of the Mississippi in Nogales, Arizona; Spokane, Washington; Maple Valley, Washington; and Renton, Washington. Recently, Shakey's has begun to open new franchises in new and existing territories. Among other recent openings, a new restaurant opened in Honolulu, Hawaii on February 24, 2010, after a 30-year absence from the islands.[4]
Shakey's returns to the Twin Cities
Once a household name in Minnesota with sixteen locations throughout the state, Shakey’s® Pizza is returning to the North Star State with five new restaurants scheduled to open in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area, the first of which is slated for Summer 2011. After a nearly decade-long absence, the new Shakey’s restaurants will serve up a welcome trip down memory lane for Minnesotans. Shakey’s has been absent from Minnesota since the Rochester franchise closed its doors in August 2002. The brand’s return to Minnesota reflects Shakey’s ongoing resurgence. “People have never stopped loving Shakey’s Pizza and that’s why we’re experiencing such a remarkable resurgence in popularity,” says Shakey’s Pizza CEO Joe Remsa. “Everybody has a story, a memory or a special feeling about Shakey’s. In re-envisioning the restaurant, we wanted to preserve a bit of that heritage and invite a new generation of customers to make memories of their own.” from Pizza Today article. http://www.pizzatoday.com/NewsViews/TheHotSlice/August242010/tabid/437/Default.aspx
[edit] Gallery
 A Shakey's restaurant in Hong Kong. |
 Shakey's had its own "pledge of allegiance" in the early 1970s. |
 A "Ye Old Notice" sign. |
[edit] See also
[edit] Further reading
- Wilson, Burt. Shakey & Me. Sacramento, CA: Paloria Press, 2001. (ISBN 0-9676-5752-0)
[edit] References
- ^ a b http://www.shakeyspizza.ph/about_us.asp
- ^ WestallisNOW.com: Shakey's Pizza & Buffet to close on June 30
- ^ Another store in Janesville, Wisconsin closed in 2008. ("Longtime Janesville restaurant will close". Janesville Gazette. February 9, 2008. http://www.gazettextra.com/news/2008/feb/09/long-time-janesville-restaurant-will-close/. Retrieved 2008-02-12.)
- ^ Honolulu Advertiser: Shakey's Returns to Isles After 30 years February 15, 2010.
http://www.pizzatoday.com/NewsViews/TheHotSlice/August242010/tabid/437/Default.aspx
[edit] External links
- Shakey's Japan (Japanese)
- Shakey's Philippines
- Shakey's USA
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