Happy Joe's is an American

pizza Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onions ...

parlor chain based in

Bettendorf, Iowa Bettendorf is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States. It is the 15th largest city of Iowa and the third-largest city in the "Quad Cities". It is part of the Davenport– Moline– Rock Island, IA- IL Metropolitan Statistical Area. The popu ...

. The restaurant chain was founded in 1972 by Lawrence Joseph "Happy Joe" Whitty, a former

Shakey's Pizza Shakey's Pizza is a pizza restaurant chain based in the United States. Founded in 1954, it was the first franchise pizza chain in the United States. In 1968, the chain had 342 locations. The chain had about 500 stores globally, and 58 in the Un ...

manager. Their United States locations are spread out across the Upper Midwest and Florida, with a location in Egypt, which opened in October 2022. In 2022, Happy Joe's has declared an intent over 10 years to open at least 25 locations across the Middle East and North Africa, including in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. The idea for Happy Joe's came from a combination of a pizza parlor and ice cream palace. On September 15, 2022, Happy Joe's filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

, and would close several corporate-owned stores, although franchise-owned restaurants are not affected by the bankruptcy.

Products

Taco pizza

Joseph Whitty's "Happy Joe's" claimed to be the first pizza restaurant to offer a

taco pizza Taco pizza is a pizza that uses taco ingredients. The owner of pizza chain Happy Joe's claimed to have invented taco pizza. The pizza has been served by other locations. Potential origin and patents The pizza parlor chain Happy Joe's in Davenpor ...

(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.

Breakfast pizza

In 2005, Happy Joe's started offering breakfast pizzas at select locations.

Flatbread pizza

In 2013, Happy Joe's started offering flatbread pizzas.

Gluten-free crusts

Happy Joe's also offers

gluten Gluten is a structural protein naturally found in certain cereal grains. Although "gluten" often only refers to wheat proteins, in medical literature it refers to the combination of prolamin and glutelin proteins naturally occurring in all grain ...

-free crusts, designed for those with gluten allergies.

Birthday parties

It also features outlandish birthday parties. He was inspired to include birthday parties in his restaurant concept after he got disciplined after hosting one at the Shakey's Pizza he managed.

Joegurt

Joegurt is the chain's signature ice cream product that combines ice cream with yogurt. It is available at all the locations including the Pizza Grille locations. It is not currently sold in grocery stores.

History

The chain was started in 1972 by Lawrence Joseph "Happy Joe" Whitty after he was disciplined for throwing a child a birthday party while working at Shakey's Pizza. Birthday parties became a centerpoint for the restaurant as did its signature taco pizza (claimed by the chain to be the first pizza place to offer such an item) and Joegurt (ice cream infused yogurt). In the 1980s, the chain had operated a location in Cairo, Egypt that was shaped like a boat and was situated on the

Nile River The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest rive ...

. The chain has also expanded into other Midwestern markets with locations in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

along with their home-state of

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. The Happy Joe's location on Gilbert Street in

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

was destroyed by a tornado on April 13, 2006, part of the Easter Week 2006 Tornado Outbreak Sequence. A follow-up restaurant in

Coralville Coralville is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is a suburb of Iowa City and part of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 22,318 at the 2020 census. History Coralville is the location of the Edgewater ...

was lost to floods in 2008, but it was rebuilt and continued to operate. In the mid-2010s, the chain debuted a new concept alongside the traditional restaurants called Happy Joe's Pizza Grille where you can get traditional American fare such as Rubens alongside their signature pizza and Joegurt. They also feature a small buffet featuring their pizzas as well. The chain also had a presence in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

with two since closed stores, however, a return to Arizona is in the works with plans to open more restaurants in the state in the future. On October 29, 2019, Happy Joe Whitty died at the age of 82 at the Clarissa C. Cook Hospice Center. In 2022, the chain has plans to expand their operations to the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

and

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. They have plans to open at least 25 new restaurants across Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. over the course of 10 years. The first locations the chain plans to openen in

Cairo, Egypt Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, where they had one previously. In addition to the aforementioned stores, they also have two restaurants in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, their first in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

. They also have stores planned for

Branson Branson may refer to: Places ;Canada * Branson, Toronto ;United States * Branson, Missouri, a popular tourist destination in the Ozark Mountains * Branson, Colorado * Branson City, California * The Branson School, in Ross, California * Warrenpoi ...

(their first store outside of the St. Louis Metro), an additional store in the St. Louis metro, and an as of yet determined location in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Cities floated for the proposed location include

Grand Prairie Grand Prairie is a city in Dallas, Tarrant, and Ellis counties of Texas, in the United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It had a population of 175,396 according to the 2010 census, making it th ...

Cedar Hill Cedar may refer to: Trees and plants *''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae *Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar Places United States * Cedar, Arizona * ...

, and Arlington, with plans to open in one of those cities before the end of 2023. This represents a milestone for the company as it will be their first minority-owned franchise in addition to being the first one in Texas.https://www.ourquadcities.com/news/local-news/qc-native-plans-1st-happy-joes-in-texas/

References

External links

* {{Official website, happyjoes.com 1972 establishments in Iowa Bettendorf, Iowa Buffet restaurants Companies based in the Quad Cities Companies based in Iowa Economy of the Midwestern United States Ice cream parlors in the United States Pizza chains of the United States Regional restaurant chains in the United States Restaurants established in 1972 Restaurants in Iowa Iowa culture American companies established in 1972 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2022