History BY THE SLICE

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/09/2010 (5698 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Now the truth can be told.

When Steve Logan was the director of operations for Pizza Hut, he would habitually sneak out on Friday nights to enjoy a large pepperoni pizza from one of his chief competitors.

"Twenty years ago, I could have ordered from any Pizza Hut in town and it wouldn’t have cost me a cent. But ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved Pizza Place pizza," says Logan, the present-day owner of Pizza Place in Grant Park Shopping Centre. "One time I even brought the vice-president of Pizza Hut here for lunch, telling him, ‘You have gotta try the pizza I grew up on.’" (Verdict? "He thought it was a good product.")

 

This year marks a pair of significant milestones on the SSRqza front: One, it’s the golden anniversary of Pizza Place in Winnipeg and two, it’s the 40th anniversary of Pizza Place’s flagship location. "According to everything I’ve read, Pizza Place was the first (pizza) chain in Winnipeg when it opened in Crestview in 1960, beating Gondola by a couple of years," Logan says."And this particular restaurant was one of Grant Park’s first tenants after the mall opened in late 1969."

During the 1960s and SSRq70s, Pizza Place — recognizable by its red-and-black Leaning Tower of Pisa logo — established pickup and delivery outlets in every corner of the city. Heck, even if you weren’t a fan of the restaurant’s signature item, the thin-crust Tower Pizza, odds were you still knew all the words to its accordion-heavy radio jingle. (All together now: "I go… to Pizza Place to get the flavour… of Italy… and so do we…")

Except by the time Logan got involved with the business in 2001, the 88-seat spot at Grant Park was this city’s last Pizza Place standing. "To be honest, I didn’t even want the restaurant — I just wanted the name so I could sell franchise units," says the married father of two, who grew up in nearby Lord Roberts. "But the guy I bought it from told me, no, it’s a package deal."

Nowadays, there are five Pizza Place locations in Winnipeg, with three more in Brandon, Swan River and Winnipeg Beach. "There’s also a potential franchisee in Moose Jaw who I’m working with right now," Logan says.

If the chain chooses to expand outside of Manitoba, it will be a popular move with expats. Every summer, Logan entertains scads of former SSRqPeggers who put Pizza Place at the top of their to-visit list when they’re back in town on vacation.

"Recently, there was a family from Calgary that was here for a wedding; they must have come in here five or six times over a two-week span," he says. (Logan also has a standing order with a hotel magnate from south of the border. Twice a year, he prepares six extra-large pies — three pepperoni, three mushroom and onion — for an ex-Winnipegger who operates a group of Ramada Inns in North and South Dakota.)

"The Aspers picked up a pizza yesterday… Sammy (Katz) comes in quite often," Logan says, when asked whether any local celebs pop by from time to time. But Logan, 45, admits he wouldn’t necessarily recognize every A-lister who asks to see a menu.

"Back in March, I got a call from a supposedly big act that was playing a concert at MTS Centre. They were staying at the Norwood Hotel, and wanted us to deliver four extra-large pepperonis. The next day, I asked my daughter if she’d ever heard of some guy named Billy Talent, and she was, like, "Daaaaad!" (Bailey Logan also clued her father in to the fact that Billy Talent is a "they," not a "he.")

Last, dumb question: after 50 years in business, should we assume that Pizza Place has become as synonymous with Winnipeg dining as Rae & Jerry’s, Kelekis and Salisbury House?

"I’d like to think so," Logan says, "but there have been a lot of times when I’ve phoned people, saying, ‘Hi, it’s Steve from Pizza Place,’ and they go, ‘Uh, which pizza place? Boston? Santa Lucia?’

"So then I start singing our old song, ‘We’re ready with spaghetti, and we season it just right…’ and they’re like, ‘Oh, yeah — that Pizza Place.’"

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca

Pizza to go

 

Instead of toasting Pizza Place’s 50th anniversary by rolling back prices to Beatles-era levels, Steve Logan is busy trying to figure out where to relocate his Grant Park restaurant. "My lease is up at the end of January (2011), and the mall isn’t renewing my rent," he states matter-of-factly.

For weeks, Logan has been warning customers about the pending move — especially crust-fallen seniors who live within walking distance of the mall. "It’s going to be a big adjustment. Some people — like the three older guys who are here every Tuesday night for spaghetti with meatballs, and coffee — have been coming since Day 1."

Logan is currently eyeing property near Taylor Avenue and Kenaston Boulevard, close to where the IKEA juggernaut is slated to open. "Hopefully we’ll find something that has around 3,000 square feet, with enough room for a small bar and maybe some VLTs," he says.

 

Jingle jangle jingle

SOMEWHERE in Steve Logan’s basement is a box containing a vital piece of Winnipeg history: a decades-old, original recording of Pizza Place’s jaunty radio jingle.

"When we starting opening new delivery units about eight years ago, we did a lot of advertising," Logan says. "So we dusted off the old tape, and sent it in to radio and TV stations. It still sounds great, if you ask me."

Sounds great to us, too, but how about you? What, in your estimation, is Winnipeg’s best radio or television jingle of all time? In other words, which tune keeps you humming, an hour or two after you hear it? (Here’s one vote for Parkside Ford Lincoln’s "Cam cuts the mustard, every time…." ditty.)

Send your pick(s) to david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca. We’ll tabulate the results and announce a winner in a future Icon column. And to encourage voting, we’ll even draw one name at random and award that reader a gift certificate from Pizza Place.

Good luck!