From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Pizza Ranch

American fast casual pizza chain

Summary

American fast casual pizza chain

Field	Value
name	Pizza Ranch, Inc.
logo	Pizza Ranch logo.svg
logo_size	220px
image	Grand-Island-Exterior-night DSC9676.jpg
image_caption	A Pizza Ranch in Grand Island, Nebraska
type	Private
founders	Adrie Groeneweg
Lawrence Vander Esch
num_locations	219
industry	Restaurants
products
key_people
revenue	million
foundation	, in Hull, Iowa, U.S.
location	Orange City, Iowa, U.S.
homepage

Lawrence Vander Esch

Pizza Ranch, Inc. is an American fast casual buffet restaurant chain with more than 200 locations. It specializes in pizza and chicken. Pizza Ranch has locations in Iowa, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Tennessee, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Pizza Ranch is a Christian-based company. The Pizza Ranch vision is "To glorify God by positively impacting the world we live in through pizza". Because Iowa has the first caucus for US presidential primary elections, Pizza Ranch's 66 locations in Iowa are a frequent stop for presidential candidates, particularly Republicans due to the chain's conservative bent.

History

In 1981, Pizza Ranch was founded by Adrie Groeneweg and Lawrence Vander Esch. The first restaurant location opened on December 21, 1981, in Hull, Iowa. In 1983, two years later, the second Pizza Ranch opened in Orange City, Iowa.

In 2001, Vander Esch left the company after being arrested and sent to prison for sexual abuse involving fraudulently obtaining semen samples of their teen employees under the pretense of a prostate study. Vander Esch was discharged from prison in March 2006, according to the Iowa Department of Corrections. Later that year, a district court judge, citing an Iowa Supreme Court ruling in a separate case, vacated his conviction and cleared his record.

In 2005, the chain's headquarters, formerly located in Hull, Iowa, moved to Orange City, Iowa. In 2008, the 'Pizza Ranch strategy' was first noted in Mike Huckabee's campaign at the 2008 Republican caucuses; Huckabee went on to win the caucuses despite being a longshot candidate.

In 2024, an Iowa man achieved the feat of visiting every Pizza Ranch location in existence.

References

"Pizza Ranch Inc Revenue and Financial". Hoovers.
Dreeszen, Dave. (September 12, 2012). "Pizza Ranch to add Sioux City location". [[Sioux City Journal]].
Askew, John. (September 17, 2007). "Meanwhile at the Pizza Ranch…". [[Iowa State Daily]].
Kennedy, Wally. (2013-11-23). "Range Line to be home of still more pizza". [[Joplin Globe]].
Korbelink, Jeff. (2014-02-27). "Pizza Ranch offers pizza and chicken". [[Lincoln Journal Star]].
Gearino, Dan. (2005-11-18). "Pizza Ranch gets state loan for move". Sioux City Journal.
Oechslin, Russ. (2008-04-27). "Pizza Ranch grows into eight states". Sioux City Journal.
(2017-01-22). "Pizza Ranch set to open Monday in Sterling". The Prairie Advocate.
Dreeszen, Dave. (2012-01-07). "Pizza Ranch again blazes trail to White House". Sioux City Journal.
(2016-01-16). "Trump picks up the tab and the Pizza Ranch endorsement".
(2015-08-11). "Pizza Ranch: Fueling Campaigns On Cheese And Chicken". [[National Public Radio.
(2015-05-04). "To scarf up Iowa votes, candidates' first stop is pizza". [[USA Today]].
Semuels, Alana. (2011-12-26). "Easy as pie: Iowa's campaign trail runs through Pizza Ranch". [[Los Angeles Times]].
(2010-05-26). "In part, Madsen owns local Pizza Ranch spot". New Century Press.
Turner, Terry. (2004-03-04). "Pizza Ranch opens in Sergeant Bluff". Sioux City Journal.
(2014). "Orange City: Images of America". Arcadia Publishing.
(2015-03-08). "Pizza Ranch is new territory for Bush campaign adviser". Cedar Rapids Gazette.
Dreeszen, Dave. (2012-01-08). "Why Romney didn't dine at a 'Ranch'". Sioux City Journal.
(2024-01-13). "The Iowa Pizza Chain That Explains How Our Politics Became So Dysfunctional".
(2024-11-30). "This Iowa man has eaten at every Pizza Ranch - all 224 of them". The Des Moines Register.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

economy-of-the-midwestern-united-states regional-restaurant-chains-in-the-united-states pizza-chains-of-the-united-states restaurants-established-in-1981 restaurants-in-iowa buffet-restaurants fast-casual-restaurants pizza-franchises hull,-iowa orange-city,-iowa 1981-establishments-in-iowa theme-restaurants iowa-caucuses american-companies-established-in-1981 culture-of-iowa

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Pizza Ranch — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report