Omaha Exploration

The story of Godfather’s Pizza starts not with Willy Theisen but Gregg Johnson. Johnson opened a takeout pizza joint in a nondescript strip mall. Next door was Theisen’s bar, Wild Willy’s.

The pizza joint’s name was inspired by the hugely popular Godfather movie, as was its clever motto, “an offer you can’t refuse.” The country-themed bar featured a horse-shaped bar, wagon wheel chandelier, and a dance floor. True to its name, the bar saw its share of fist fights, one involving a pool cue being broken over the bouncer’s head.

Noticing that patrons at Wild Willy’s were ordering a lot of pizza from the place next door, the two joined forces by installing a takeout window in the wall. Not having a liquor license of their own, Godfather’s, it seems, was breaking the law. As a result, the two businesses merged in 1973, at which point they tore down the wall that separated them. The address from that point was 5430 S. 99th Street.

What appeared to be an unlikely pairing propelled the pizza joint into another stratosphere. The made-from-scratch pizza with its thick crust proved to be extremely popular as a local alternative to national takeout chains like Pizza Hut. Inside its original location, Godfather’s had video games, a pool table, and a menu that also offered sandwiches and lasagna in addition to its pizza. It even offered free delivery to the nearby Thomasville apartment complex where Theisen worked as a leasing agent.

After several months, the partners decided to part ways, with Theisen buying out Johnson’s share of the business. From that point forward, Godfather’s would expand far beyond Millard and become one of the largest pizza chains in the world.

With Theisen in sole control of Godfather’s, he added an all-you-can-eat salad bar, which was a relatively new concept at the time. Its very first franchise and just its second location ever opened in Lincoln. In 1976, he hired veteran Omaha actor J. William Koll to play its version of the Godfather, inspired by the hugely popular movie.

During a three-year period from 1977 to 1979, Godfather’s was recognized by the National Restaurant Association as the fastest-growing pizza chain. Theisen realized that franchisees were a key component to his business. He expressed a genuine interest in their families and made them feel good about themselves by going the extra mile and doing things like taking them for rides on his plane.

He also employed a KISS strategy (keep it simple, stupid) that included opening new locations in inexpensive strip malls. The low cost of rent combined with a low cost of labor allowed him to put more money into its pizzas, which were loaded with toppings. It attracted customers and the new locations were money-making machines. When asked the secret of Godfather’s success, Theisen said it was the result of his unwillingness to compromise on ingredients, pointing out that each large pizza had one pound of cheese. Theisen continued to work tirelessly seven days a week, opening 450 locations in a 36-month period.

By the early 1980s, however, it became evident that Godfather’s was growing too large, too fast. With nearly 1,000 locations operating in more than 40 states, it became increasingly difficult to control. Theisen said in a 1985 Omaha World-Herald interview that the expansion “diluted the personality of Godfather’s.” He continued, “we let our guard down. We could have minded the store better.”

In 1983, he hired Charles Boppell, the former Senior Vice President of Pizza Hut and most recently president and chief executive of Taco Bell, both of which were under PepsiCo’s food service unit. At the same time, Boppell’s boss, Donald Smith, was hired by a restaurant company called Chart House.

Given the relationship between the two men and the troubles beginning to emerge at Godfather’s, a merger between it and Chart House made sense. There was a sense that these two, being among the best in the industry, could course correct and continue to grow the chain. Smith had developed a reputation for turning around both Pizza Hut and Burger King.

The merger was completed in December 1983, at which point a new food conglomerate named Diversifoods, Inc. was formed with Smith as its president and chief executive officer and Boppell as the president of its key acquisition, Godfather’s. Theisen remained on as vice chairman of Diversifoods.

As part of its growth strategy, the new company added new layers of management and relocated Godfather’s headquarters to Costa Mesa, California to be near Boppell’s home. Things quickly went from bad to worse, however, as internal management strife combined with poor relationships with franchisees led to a free fall in Godfather’s earnings. In an act of rebellion, some franchisees even withheld royalties. Its largest franchisee sued Diversifoods, charging that it had diminished Godfather’s name and market recognition.

Theisen left the company in December 1984, one year after the merger, feeling his advice had been ignored. Not long after, with earnings in a free fall, Smith and Boppell resigned in 1985.

Pillsbury bought Diversifoods, including Godfather’s, in 1985 and moved its headquarters back to Omaha within a year. It named Herman Cain CEO of the pizza chain in 1986. By this time, sales at Godfather’s began to suffer and slipped to the fifth-largest pizza chain by 1988. During his tenure, Cain closed more than 200 locations while eliminating several thousand jobs in the process. In doing so, he returned the company to profitability.

Cain went on to purchase the company from Pillsbury along with a group of investors in 1990. He stepped down from his position as CEO in 1996 but remained as chairman until 2002. He was succeeded by Ronald Gartlan, who bought out Cain’s portion of the company in 2009. While the chain shrank to 465 locations by 2018, it has since grown to over 583 franchised locations in 43 states and more than 1,600 express or licensed locations. It currently ranks seventh among the largest pizza chains in the country.

Back to Gregg Johnson for a minute. Don’t feel too sorry for the man who founded the pizza joint only to sell it within months to Theisen — he moved to Kansas City and opened a competing pizza chain called Minsky’s Pizza, which itself grew to 17 locations in Missouri and Kansas.

Theisen, meanwhile, served on the boards of the Omaha Airport Authority and the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority (MECA) and pursued other opportunities. He also got back into the pizza business, though on a much smaller scale, when he opened Pitch Pizzeria in Dundee in 2009, followed by locations at Village Pointe and Scottsdale, Arizona. He has since been inducted into the Nebraska Business and Commerce Hall of Fame, the Greater Omaha Chamber Business Hall of Fame, and the Omaha Restaurant Association Hospitality Hall of Fame.

Despite the turmoil that followed Godfather’s merger, Willy Theisen’s quick ascent is remarkable. Born in Chicago in 1945 and raised in small-town Iowa, he went from parking cars downtown at Easy Parking in 1969 to opening a bar four years later. That bar just happened to be next door to a takeout pizza joint that only trailed Pizza Hut before he stepped away from the business 11 years later. During that time, he earned more money than he ever thought possible. And he wasn’t even 40.

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Sources

• Omaha World-Herrld archives
• https://mbj.com/and-one-under-80-willy-theisen-godfather-of-entrepreneurship/
• Gregg Johnson Named KCRA Restaurateur of the Year – Minsky’s Pizza
• https://www.ketv.com/article/omaha-godfathers-pizza-closes-first-ever-location-1982/42826655#
• THE RISE AND FALL OF GODFATHER’S – The New York Times
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godfather%27s_Pizza
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Theisen
• James William “Bill” Koll Sr. (1926-2008) – Find a Grave Memorial