QC native plans 1st Happy Joes in Texas
Quad Cities native Ricky McBride and his ownership group plans to open the first Happy Joe’s Pizza and Ice Cream restaurant in Texas by the end of 2023, the company announced Wednesday.
Making the move even more significant is that HJ SMS OpCo is a Black-owned business group – the first minority franchisees for Happy Joe’s. The QC-based company (founded in 1972) has 45 locations throughout the Midwest and 28 more in the pipeline — including in Branson and St. Louis; Navarre, Florida, and several others planned overseas in Egypt and the Middle East.
“This is a huge moment for us as an organization because we are diversifying as we continue to expand,” Happy Joe’s CEO and Chief Happiness Officer Tom Sacco said in Wednesday’s release. “We are passionate about making great pizza and creating countless memories for everyone that comes into a Happy Joe’s. Having more minority, veteran, and female-owned franchisees allows us to gain greater perspective on those core ideals as our footprint continues to grow.
“Ultimately, we want to reflect our guests across this great country that we call home,” he said. “We are thrilled to present our first Black-owned franchise group in February as a tribute to Black History Month as Happy Joe’s continues to expand its ‘Happy Places’ and iconic pizza offerings across the southern U.S.”
As a Davenport Central High alum, McBride looks back fondly on the birthday parties, team celebrations and overall fun nights spent eating pizza and playing games with friends at Happy Joe’s. He moved on to attend Georgia Southern University and dabbled in semi-pro football leagues across the South, before settling in Atlanta and becoming a successful business entrepreneur, the Happy Joe’s release said.
McBride is one of the nation’s largest suppliers of sea moss and owns a health food shop in Duluth, Georgia. The healthy option of cauliflower crust pizza at Happy Joe’s was a contributor to the reasons he and his partners decided on bringing the iconic Midwestern brand into the southern U.S.
4 MORE
“There are lots of places you can get pizza, but there’s only one place that gives you a unique pizza experience like Happy Joe’s,” said McBride. “The brand is extremely creative with their offerings and they have a wide variety of pizzas for every discriminating palate. Happy Joe’s knows how to treat people right and they constantly come up with different options to bring in new guests.”
McBride has family in Texas and the rest of the group has friends in Dallas-Fort Worth, making the entry into the market an easy decision. Texas is a minority majority population state that has several cities with large pockets of successful minority neighborhoods helping hook McBride and his team on bringing Happy Joe’s to the Lone Star State.
When the opportunity presented itself to bring Happy Joe’s to Texas, his company jumped at the chance to expand its business portfolio and bring those same good times to families who may have never experienced the Midwestern brand’s charm and creative culinary offerings, the release said.
“There are lots of places you can get pizza, but there’s only one place that gives you a unique pizza experience like Happy Joe’s,” McBride said. “They know how to treat people and how to build deep roots in the community – two things that I always look for with my business ventures. I can’t express how excited my group is to not just be the first minority-owned franchisees, but to also be the first ones bringing Happy Joe’s to Texas!”
His goal is to open the state’s first Happy Joe’s in their multi-unit agreement in the southern Dallas suburbs of Grand Prairie or Cedar Hill, before the end of the year. If they are unable to find a great location in either of those areas, the focus will then shift west to nearby Arlington, the release said.
McBride and his ownership group, HJ SMS OpCo, LLC, which includes Bryan Shorter and other childhood friends, will spearhead the arrival of multiple Happy Joe’s into Texas later this year and years to come.
For more information on Happy Joe’s, click HERE.
** Editor’s note: This story has been updated from a prior version Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, which identified a different primary franchise owner.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sMHRqqyanJOewaqx0meaqKVfo7K4v46lppyZnGK7psPSaKicZZ6WwarCxGanpZmeqHpyv9Nmn5qooK56q7vErGSipl2psrmt0mg%3D