Shakey's Pizza

The familiar sign of a Shakey's Pizza parlor in 1977.

The familiar sign of a Shakey's Pizza parlor in 1977.

Shakey's Pizza was the first important pizza chain restaurant in the United States and in many ways pioneered the concept of the chain pizza parlor. Shakey's was founded in Sacramento, California on April 30, 1954 by Sherwood "Shakey" Johnson (1925-1998) and Ed Plummer. Johnson's nickname resulted from a case of malaria suffered during World War II. The first weekend the parlor opened, only beer was served, and Shakey took the profits from beer sales and bought ingredients for pizza the following Monday. The original store at 57th and J in Sacramento remained in business until the late 1990s. Shakey personally played dixieland jazz piano to entertain patrons, and that type of entertainment was a staple of the Shakey's experience well into the 1970s. 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.

A Dixieland piano player entertains at Shakey's in the early 1970s.

A Dixieland piano player entertains at Shakey's in the early 1970s.

The second Shakey's Pizza Parlor opened in Portland, Oregon in 1956. Shakey's began franchising its restaurant to others in 1957. By the time Johnson retired 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. The chain is now much bigger in the Philippines than in the United States.

Shakey's Pizza Parlors are noted for their unique features: The parlors are decorated in a variety of informal styles, traditionally having tables lined end to end the width of the dining room and seating provided on wooden stools. Some later designs included high tables and stools and stained and beveled glass designs. Parlors are usually decorated with antique-looking wooden signs bearing "Ye Olde Notice." Typical notices are "We made a deal with the banker. We don't cash checks, and he don't sell pizza" and "We have no quarrel with those who sell for less. They know what their product is worth." There is usually a window allowing children to watch the pizza being made. Family-friendly entertainment is still a staple at Shakey's, with many stores featuring large game rooms and featuring live performances by magicians and other entertainers on certain nights to attract business.

Besides pizza, Shakey's has developed other menu items into trademarks, including it's MoJo potatoes (breaded and deep-fried potato slices) and fried chicken. Most Shakey's restaurants incorporate a buffet, which is usually responsible for more sales than the ordering of whole pizzas. Its classic thin-crust pizza remains more popular than its deep-dish pizza, which was introduced in the 1970s and has a sweeter crust more reminiscent of pastries than pizza.

Shakey Johnson sold his half of the company to Colorado Milling and Elevator in 1967, which acquired Plummer's half the next year. Shakey's was again 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 in the time Inno-Pacific owned the chain. 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 franchisor of 19 Shakey's restaurants.

The decline of Shakey's is a case study in franchise mismanagement worthy of a major business bestseller authored by some competent reporter. Shakey's has gone from 325 stores throughout the United States when the original owners left the company to 63 stores as of 2004, 55 of them in California. There are only four stores east of the Mississippi River: Springfield, Illinois; [[Warner Robins, Georgia., Janesville and West Allis, Wisconsin; and only four stores in the West outside California: Boise, Idaho; Nogales, Arizona, and two in suburban Seattle.

Most Shakey's restaurants closed not because of a decline in sales (although competition from delivery-based pizza chains such as Domino's and Pizza Hut has hurt Shakey's in-store sales) but because the franchisors (the owners of the Shakey's name and recipes) kept alienating franchisees by raising fees while at the same time providing a diminished level of benefit from franchising. As a result, many franchisees decided to convert their restaurants to copycats of Shakey's that offered a very similar menu but didn't have to pay royalties to Shakey's International. For example, the eight Shakey's Pizza Parlors in Minneapolis-St. Paul became Paesano's Pizza, and the four Shakey's in Bakersfield, California became Sharkey's. Unfortunately, this has the effect of alienating the customer base which comes to Shakey's for its unique and familiar pizza recipe, and most copycat stores close within a year. Even the original store in Sacramento closed in 1995, although this was due to a fire.

The new owner of the chain plans to revitalize it and expand in the USA beyond its California base by using techniques mastered by Krispy Kreme to gain maximum publicity when entering a new market; this will likely be easier for Shakey's than it is for Krispy Kreme, since so many people in those markets are familiar with Shakey's from the 1958-1994 period when it had stores in most American cities.

The chain currently has about 400 stores; 63 in the USA and the rest in Asia and the Philippines.

References

• Article in Entrepreneur about franchisee litigation
• Obituary of Sherwood "Shakey" Johnson

External links

• Official web site