Happy Joe’s St. Louis franchisee Satish Paradeshi (left), poses with Happy Joe’s CEO Tom Sacco. CREDIT HAPPY JOE’S
Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream is spreading its “old-fashioned goodness” in the most modern of ways through a partnership with online marketplace Goldbelly that is making its pizzas available to fans in all 50 states. Happy Joe’s relationship with Goldbelly — the online site that allows users to order from what the platform calls […]
Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream is spreading its “old-fashioned goodness” in the most modern of ways through a partnership with online marketplace Goldbelly that is making its pizzas available to fans in all 50 states.Happy Joe’s relationship with Goldbelly — the online site that allows users to order from what the platform calls “America’s most legendary and iconic foods and gifts” — assures that the pizzas made famous in the Quad Cities can be swiftly delivered to customers’ doors after a painless online ordering process. And it also provides future customers a taste of things to come.KRISTEL WHITTY-ERSANIndeed, the addition of the nationwide online ordering platform last year comes as Happy Joe’s continues to grow franchises in the U.S. and Egypt. The latter expansion is part of a strategy that is expected to result in franchises opening across the Middle East.Among those singing the praises of the new digital ordering system that puts Happy Joe’s pies a click away no matter where you live is Kristel Whitty-Ersan. She’s vice president of marketing for Happy Joe’s and a daughter of the late Lawrence “Happy Joe” Whitty, the visionary who launched the Happy Joe’s brand in the Quad Cities more than 50 years ago.“Goldbelly has been a really good partner. We’re very pleased with them,” she told the QCBJ.“It’s been nothing but a blessing for Happy Joe’s. You know, we’re thrilled,” Ms. Whitty-Ersan added.“We just celebrated 50 years. That’s a big milestone for a little pizza place that started with one unit in the Village of East Davenport and it’s exciting to grow and it’s exciting that our fans are rooting for us and that’s what I love the most.”In addition to its highly-rated ordering site, Ms. Whitty-Ersan said, Goldbelly also runs promotions “to help their vendors to get more eyeballs on what everyone is offering. So it’s really a great partnership.”Goldbelly CBO Frank Luciano was equally complimentary of Happy Joe’s addition to its marketplace. “At Goldbelly, we’re always looking for the most iconic, one-of-a-kind and unique food experiences from all around the country and Happy Joe’s is nothing short of a local midwestern icon!” he told the QCBJ via email. “A family-owned business that’s been around for over 50 years, their signature ‘Taco Joe’ taco pizza has an incredible cult-following. We’ve been shipping Happy Joe’s for about a year now and it’s very cool to see people from around the country get to experience this special Midwestern delicacy,” he added.The expanded market coverage Goldberry creates also represents another step in Happy Joe’s CEO and Chief Happiness Officer Tom Sacco’s mission to spread the Quad Cities-born “magic” around the globe.“Our Taco Joe Pizza is an icon and put us on the map, but if you didn’t live in the Midwest, you couldn’t try it without making the trek into Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri or Wisconsin,” Mr. Sacco said in a news release. “This Goldbelly partnership has been a game changer for us because now if you grew up in Moline, Illinois, but live in Las Vegas, you can still get your favorite Happy Joe’s pizza delivered to your door overnight.”The numbers tell the story. Since Happy Joe’s began partnering with Goldbelly, the chain of franchises reports an increase of more than 100% in total online pizza sales and the number of orders sold each month has tripled to more than 240 per week. The QCBJ asked Ms. Whitty-Ersan if her father could ever have envisioned the high-tech nationwide turn that home delivery has taken for the company he founded half a century ago.“Well, knowing him, he would have,” she laughed. “In the olden days he used to say, ‘I’ll half-bake a pizza for you and freeze it so you can cook it at home.’ So he was already thinking along those lines,” she said of Happy Joe Whitty’s efforts to send out-of-town fans home with pizzas to eat later.As for the technology that makes Goldberry delivery possible she said, “He probably would have been pleasantly surprised. He liked innovation and change so I think he’d be all for it for sure.”For Ms. Whitty-Ersan and Mr. Sacco, the Goldbelly deal also is about preserving product quality and growing the brand across the nation and the world.“We still make all our pizzas fresh, in store, so you’re not getting an assembly line pizza. This is pure quality shipped straight from our restaurant oven to your home or office,” Mr. Sacco said. “We see tremendous growth potential further down the road with this option and we’re happy to do it because Goldbelly helps us spread the Happy Joe’s magic and build more memories until we can open a restaurant in your hometown.”The Goldberry marketplace features Happy Joe’s pizza made with unique combinations of toppings for which the brand has become known. In addition to Taco Pizza — which accounts for 30% of the brand’s sales — it offers BBQ Beef Pizza and the Happy Joe’s Special. Getting Happy Joe’s pies at home is a simple process, Ms. Whitty-Ersan said. Customers who go to Goldbelly.com can search for Happy Joe’s (select one from any U.S. or Egypt location to make and bake your pizzas). Customers also can select from among two- and three-pizza packs, including by picking their own ingredients for traditional pies. (Multi-pack prices on Goldberry ranged at this writing from $112.95 to $159.95.) Once customers make their choices, she said, “Then we get the order and make them at a restaurant fresh and we ship them out. They come frozen and can be put into the freezer to eat whenever you want or you can bake them off when you get them.”Reviews posted on the GoldBelly website have been glowing especially among transplanted Quad Citians who crave original Happy Joe’s but live in communities that have not yet been reached by franchises or have lost old ones.“We’re in this growth mode, so we definitely want to get back to places we were and grow, but that takes time and Goldbelly is a great thing we can share with them in the meantime and say, ‘Hey, you don’t have to go without it. If you want to try out the Goldbelly system I think you might like it and most people have really liked it,” Ms. Whitty-Ersan said.At the same time, she added, “we’re trying to expand what we’re offering and also have some limited time offer things, like on Valentine’s Day we had a heart-shaped pizza, and we have a Mardi Gras thing that we did around Mardi Gras time.” Also coming later this year to Goldberry is Happy Joe’s Spicy Taco Sauce in bottles. Before the Goldberry deal, Happy Joe’s had been doing its own shipping “and we were doing OK,” Ms. Whitty-Ersan said. But its online platform partner has “so much marketing power and they’re becoming a site that people know to go to so to be on there has been really helpful. They also have a lot of great advice on how to keep things fresh and market things so we really appreciate all of their advice and help.”The 100% growth in online sales along with future growth has come with some challenges. “We’re also going to be pushing our capacity to be able to make more because we weren’t really sure going in and then when it sort of took off, we were like, ‘Oh, OK it’s time to be ready for more,’” Ms. Witty-Ersan said.That’s worth celebrating, she said “because more is better and the more people that can get our products the better and people are happy with it.” She added, “Restaurants also are getting better at making the process work better.”Meanwhile, as Happy Joe’s grows online, its franchise expansion efforts will continue.“We’re still working on lots of different things and this Goldbelly thing has really helped keep Happy Joe’s on the radar for areas we’re not in and for people who travel,” she said.“If we can’t be there yet, we’ve got Goldbelly to help represent us either until we get there or to allow those folks who don’t have a Happy Joe’s Pizza to enjoy our products,” Ms. Ersan said.Why is that so important? “I think every city in America should have a Happy Joe’s.” QCBJ
The expanded market coverage Goldberry creates also represents another step in Happy Joe’s CEO and Chief Happiness Officer Tom Sacco’s mission to spread the Quad Cities-born “magic” around the globe.
“Our Taco Joe Pizza is an icon and put us on the map, but if you didn’t live in the Midwest, you couldn’t try it without making the trek into Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri or Wisconsin,” Mr. Sacco said in a news release. “This Goldbelly partnership has been a game changer for us because now if you grew up in Moline, Illinois, but live in Las Vegas, you can still get your favorite Happy Joe’s pizza delivered to your door overnight.”
The numbers tell the story. Since Happy Joe’s began partnering with Goldbelly, the chain of franchises reports an increase of more than 100% in total online pizza sales and the number of orders sold each month has tripled to more than 240 per week.
The QCBJ asked Ms. Whitty-Ersan if her father could ever have envisioned the high-tech nationwide turn that home delivery has taken for the company he founded half a century ago.
“Well, knowing him, he would have,” she laughed. “In the olden days he used to say, ‘I’ll half-bake a pizza for you and freeze it so you can cook it at home.’ So he was already thinking along those lines,” she said of Happy Joe Whitty’s efforts to send out-of-town fans home with pizzas to eat later.
As for the technology that makes Goldberry delivery possible she said, “He probably would have been pleasantly surprised. He liked innovation and change so I think he’d be all for it for sure.”
For Ms. Whitty-Ersan and Mr. Sacco, the Goldbelly deal also is about preserving product quality and growing the brand across the nation and the world.
“We still make all our pizzas fresh, in store, so you’re not getting an assembly line pizza. This is pure quality shipped straight from our restaurant oven to your home or office,” Mr. Sacco said. “We see tremendous growth potential further down the road with this option and we’re happy to do it because Goldbelly helps us spread the Happy Joe’s magic and build more memories until we can open a restaurant in your hometown.”
The Goldberry marketplace features Happy Joe’s pizza made with unique combinations of toppings for which the brand has become known. In addition to Taco Pizza — which accounts for 30% of the brand’s sales — it offers BBQ Beef Pizza and the Happy Joe’s Special.
Getting Happy Joe’s pies at home is a simple process, Ms. Whitty-Ersan said. Customers who go to Goldbelly.com can search for Happy Joe’s (select one from any U.S. or Egypt location to make and bake your pizzas). Customers also can select from among two- and three-pizza packs, including by picking their own ingredients for traditional pies. (Multi-pack prices on Goldberry ranged at this writing from $112.95 to $159.95.)
Once customers make their choices, she said, “Then we get the order and make them at a restaurant fresh and we ship them out. They come frozen and can be put into the freezer to eat whenever you want or you can bake them off when you get them.”
Reviews posted on the GoldBelly website have been glowing especially among transplanted Quad Citians who crave original Happy Joe’s but live in communities that have not yet been reached by franchises or have lost old ones.
“We’re in this growth mode, so we definitely want to get back to places we were and grow, but that takes time and Goldbelly is a great thing we can share with them in the meantime and say, ‘Hey, you don’t have to go without it. If you want to try out the Goldbelly system I think you might like it and most people have really liked it,” Ms. Whitty-Ersan said.
At the same time, she added, “we’re trying to expand what we’re offering and also have some limited time offer things, like on Valentine’s Day we had a heart-shaped pizza, and we have a Mardi Gras thing that we did around Mardi Gras time.” Also coming later this year to Goldberry is Happy Joe’s Spicy Taco Sauce in bottles.
Before the Goldberry deal, Happy Joe’s had been doing its own shipping “and we were doing OK,” Ms. Whitty-Ersan said.
But its online platform partner has “so much marketing power and they’re becoming a site that people know to go to so to be on there has been really helpful. They also have a lot of great advice on how to keep things fresh and market things so we really appreciate all of their advice and help.”
The 100% growth in online sales along with future growth has come with some challenges. “We’re also going to be pushing our capacity to be able to make more because we weren’t really sure going in and then when it sort of took off, we were like, ‘Oh, OK it’s time to be ready for more,’” Ms. Witty-Ersan said.
That’s worth celebrating, she said “because more is better and the more people that can get our products the better and people are happy with it.”
She added, “Restaurants also are getting better at making the process work better.”
Meanwhile, as Happy Joe’s grows online, its franchise expansion efforts will continue.
“We’re still working on lots of different things and this Goldbelly thing has really helped keep Happy Joe’s on the radar for areas we’re not in and for people who travel,” she said.
“If we can’t be there yet, we’ve got Goldbelly to help represent us either until we get there or to allow those folks who don’t have a Happy Joe’s Pizza to enjoy our products,” Ms. Ersan said.
Why is that so important?
“I think every city in America should have a Happy Joe’s.” QCBJ
