Pizza Pit

Pizza Pit is a pizza delivery chain founded in Madison in 1969. A newspaper in 2009 called it "Madison's first locally owned pizza chain". At its largest, in the late 1990s, it had nine or ten company-owned stores in Madison and about 30 franchised stores in Wisconsin and Iowa. The company that ran the Madison stores went bankrupt in 1999 and its stores were sold in January 2000. The name is still in use.

History

Beginnings

According to the company, Pizza Pit began on the University of Wisconsin campus in 1969 because Madison had no pizza delivery service. Help-wanted advertisements in September 1969 told applicants to apply at 608 University Ave.. That month the Daily Cardinal introduced "the Pizza Pit, a new carry-out and free delivery pizza concern at 608 University Avenue", which offered to publicize campus events from its sound-equipped car. By April 1971 there were four stores, which the advertisements labeled by the part of town each delivered to.

Terry Voice was president of the company by 1983 and remained so until 2000. When Gerald H. Voice died in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in June 1989, his obituary said he "was one of the original owners and founders of Pizza Pit, Limited, which started in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1969". A 1999 column credited him with starting the business and "creating a delivery market where there was none".

The Cardinal contests

By April 1975 there were five Pizza Pits; that month United Neighborhood Centers volunteers took over their phones and deliveries for a day as a fund-raiser. Pizza Pit took part in all the Daily Cardinal pizza contests of the 1970s: second in 1971, when its pizza cost $1.90 with a coupon, third in 1972 and 1973, and in 1975 the best thin crust, with "an authentic urban flair the others lack". In 1971 the Cardinal's columnist used its hot Italian submarine as his yardstick for subs.

Franchising

In April 1983 the parent company, Pizza Pit Ltd., formed Pizza Pit Investment Enterprises Inc. to sell franchises and train staff, with offices at 402 S. Gammon Pl. Pizza Pit then had nine delivery stores and restaurants in the Madison area, and planned to open 15 franchised and five company-owned stores that year in Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. Two months later it had 12 stores in Iowa and Wisconsin, the newest two in Green Bay.

The 1980s

In 1984 Pizza Pit advertised three awards: Best Delivery from Madison Magazine (July), Best Thin Crust Pizza from MNI's Ultimate Guide and Best Delivered Pizza from the Isthmus Annual Manual (both August). The State Journal's dining guide that October listed ten stores, promising "Free, fast, hot, home delivery", salad bars and pizza by the slice in the inside stores, and a "Pizza Pit deluxe" on which every fifth item was free.

In June 1985 the Capital Times reported that Pizza Pit had sold "800,000-plus pizzas" in fiscal 1984 from its ten local outlets, using 750,000 pounds of dough, 48,000 gallons of sauce, 395,000 pounds of cheese, 119,000 pounds of Italian sausage, 91,000 pounds of mushrooms and 68,500 pounds of pepperoni — about 20 percent of area pizza sales, by an in-house survey that Rocky Rococo called "too generous". It had held 67 percent of the local delivery market a year earlier, "But since Domino's burst onto the scene with two University Avenue stores, that share has probably fallen to 60 percent," said its marketing director, Tom Hartl. The three biggest chains, Pizza Pit, Rocky Rococo and Pizza Hut, had spent about $250,000 between them on local television advertising in 1984. In the same issue's "Cheese-off" Kaye Schultz found Pizza Pit's spicy tomato sauce and "thin, puffy-edged crust" "the best pizza base in Madison", and its pizzas the bargain. "Pizza Pit availability" was by then a byword for delivery coverage.

The dining guides listed nine stores in 1985, ten in 1986 (adding 134 Westgate Mall) and "11 Madison-area locations" in 1987. The 1986 licenses for 6668 Odana Rd., in the Market Square shopping center, and 78 East Towne Mall were in Kerry Cook's name, and those for 1401 Emil St. and 616 University Ave. in Terry K. Voice's. In November 1987 Pizza Pit fed the Sematech site-selection delegation.

A new headquarters building at 4253 Argosy Ct. was in use by June 1989. It also held the commissary, which at one time supplied more than two dozen stores. In the mid-1990s Pizza Pit tried sharing space with convenience stores and bowling centers; one was inside the Dream Lanes bowling alley at 13 Atlas Ct. by August 1995, when "Dream Lanes Pizza Pit" was hiring bartenders and pizza makers, and another inside the Lodi Bowl in 1996. Voice said later that the company had hoped to grow to 100 stores.

In August 1998, when a State Journal front page took up record cheese prices, Pizza Pit was described as "a Madison chain of 47 restaurants". Voice, its president, said competition kept the chains from passing the cost on: "If cheese prices get too much higher, we will be forced to raise our prices. We won't cut back on cheese. Absolutely not. Our customers expect a certain amount of it, and anything less would be catastrophic". The October 1998 restaurant guide counted "21 Dane County locations". The company's May 1998 licenses were at 1401 Emil St., 6668 Odana Rd. and 4237 Lien Rd., the last on the East Towne outlots; it hired pizza makers and management trainees through 257-5825 and 246-7738 ("Bill or Bob"), paid drivers "$8–$12 per hour including tips", and in October sought a truck driver at the Argosy Court commissary to supply the southern Wisconsin stores. The Emil, Odana and Raymond Road stores took part in Food Share Day on May 5, 1998, and Pizza Pit had booth 67 at Taste of Madison that September.

Bankruptcy and sale, 1999–2000

Pizza Pit Ltd. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 30, 1999. It listed debts of $855,065 and assets of $451,000. It then had nine company-owned stores in Madison with 170 employees and sales of $5.2 million a year. The 30 franchised stores belonged to the separate franchise company and were not part of the filing.

Over the next months the company closed its stores in Monona, East Towne and Middleton, and moved from Argosy Court to a smaller building at 5429 Monona Dr. It filed a reorganization plan on January 12, 2000. A week later its cash, receivables and inventory fell to $137,000, below the $150,000 the bankruptcy agreement required. M&I Bank, its main creditor, would not waive the requirement, and the seven remaining company stores closed at the end of the day on Wednesday, January 19, 2000.

M&I Bank sold the seven stores to a group of investors headed by Carter Smith of McFarland, who with partners already owned five Pizza Pit franchises, and Jim Meyer of Madison, co-founder of Pizza Extreme. The stores reopened in stages between January 29 and February 14, 2000. Voice was no longer involved. The franchised stores, then numbering 26, had stayed open throughout.

After 2000

By March 2000 one of the seven stores, at 5706 Raymond Rd., was being advertised as a new Pizza Extreme. In 2009, when Pizza Pit marked its 40th anniversary, the Raymond Road restaurant was "both a Pizza Pit and a Pizza Extreme". Newspapers in 2016 and 2022 refer to a single business called "Pizza Pit/Pizza Extreme".

The city's license lists of 2005 to 2007 carried a Pizza Pit at 21 Atlas Ct., held by CCG Enterprises with Robin Goldberg as agent, and a 2008 auction advertisement gave the company's address as 13 Atlas Ct.

The franchise system continues under the Pizza Pit name. In 2024 its president, Robby Bisbee, said it had opened stores in Cambridge and Milton that year. In 2026 its website described "15 independently owned stores" and listed one store in Madison.

Pizza Pit was the State Journal readers' choice for best pizza in 2024, 2025 and 2026, and for best chicken wings in 2026. Its September 2024 listing gave four stores: 13 Atlas Ct. and 6628 Odana Rd. in Madison, and Sun Prairie and Stoughton. The Odana Road store closed by August 2025, when Kebabe Mediterranean Cuisine opened "in a former Pizza Pit location" there.

When and how the franchise system and the Pizza Pit/Pizza Extreme stores came to be separate businesses has not been established from the sources read so far.

Pizza

• The Great Pizza Pit Treasure Hunt of January 14–23, 1991, hid a $1,000 medallion, with daily clues printed in The Capital Times.
• The 1995 Yellow Pages ad — "Free, fast & hot delivery", "Madison's Most Award Winning Pizza From Your Neighborhood Pizza Delivery Specialists" — featured Pizza Twins (two pizzas for one price), Extra Topped and Pizza Light (up to a third less fat), a catering line at 221-6777 and a TDD number. It listed nine Madison-area stores (Campus 616 University Ave., Near East 1860 E. Washington Ave., Monona 5415-B Monona Dr., Far East 4527 Cottage Grove Rd., Middleton 2506 Allen Blvd., South Central 1401 Emil St., West 6668 Odana Rd., Southwest 5750 Raymond Rd. and North 1417 Northport Dr.), with East Towne in the listings, and franchises in 14 other towns from Black Earth to Watertown.
• In September 1994 Jay Rath counted ten Madison stores and called Pizza Pit "our local staple pizza, of course, the standard by which all others are judged", with a tip: the Light Pizza, made with special cheeses and sauce and about 35 percent less fat, was spicier and better. At that year's Taste of Madison two Pizza Pit stands sold deluxe combo, garden party veggie, super meat sampler, bacon onion cheeseburger and 4-alarm special slices.
• The Food Share lists of 1993 and 1994 named the participating Pizza Pits: East Towne Mall, 5750 Raymond Rd., 1401 Emil St. and 6668 Odana Rd. in 1993, and 616 University Ave. in place of the mall in 1994, and 1401 Emil St. and "5750 Raymond Rd." in 1995.
• In 1990 Pizza Pit sold box suppers at Concerts on the Square — a deluxe or veggie slice with salad, cookies and an apple for $5 — through its catering line, 221-6777.
• The company's slogan in 1999 was "free, fast and hot". A March 1999 advertisement promised "Madison's Most Award Winning Pizza! Free, fast & hot delivery from 21 convenient area locations".
• A 16-inch sausage pizza cost $3.30 in 1971.
• In 2024 the most requested pizza was the Deluxe Combo (pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, onions and green peppers). The menu also had "Pit Stix", chicken wings, gyros, toasted sandwiches and fish dinners.
• The Stoughton store's menu in 2026 had a "Sausage Mushroom Melt".

Trivia

• The Pizza Pit television jingle — "whose pizza fleet still delivers free, fast and steaming hot? Yeah, it's the Pit's. Pizza Pit." — was written by the Madison advertising man Dick Zillman in the snowy winter of 1978–79, with a model train set and children's voices.
• Several Madison pizza businesses trace back to Pizza Pit. Jim Meyer and Bill Stein worked for Pizza Pit before they founded Pizza Extreme in 1991, and the founders of Glass Nickel Pizza met while working at Pizza Extreme.
• Stoughton's mayor, Tim Swadley, and his wife owned the Stoughton Pizza Pit until 2022.
• Terry Voice began in the pizza business in 1964 with the company that became Domino's.
• Mark Warren joined Pizza Pit as a driver in 1970, was director of training in 1983, and in 2000 became vice president of operations for the new owners.
• The telephone number in the 1969 help-wanted advertisements, 257-5825, was still the company's contact number in January 2000.
• The 1980 Yellow Pages ad, "Devilishly Good Pizza", listed seven stores — Campus (616 University Ave.), Near East (1349 Williamson St.), Far East (4126 Monona Dr., Lake Edge Shopping Center), South Central (1401 Emil St.), West (134 Westgate Mall), North (1417C Northport Dr., at Troy Drive) and Middleton (2620 Allen Blvd., Middleton Springs Shopping Center) — open daily from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m., 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday and midnight on Sunday, with pizzas, submarine sandwiches, free delivery and carry-out. The Emil Street store had its own listing and ad as "Diablos Inn — by Pizza Pit", with inside seating and beer on tap.
• The October 1999 restaurant guide listed seven Madison stores — Campus Area (1614 Monroe St.), Far East (4527 Cottage Grove Rd.), North (1417 Northport Dr.), South Central (1401 Emil St.), Southwest (5706 Raymond Rd.), West (6668 Odana Rd.) and Near East (1860 E. Washington Ave.) — some opening at 11 a.m. and some at 4 p.m.
• In 1999 Voice said market research put Pizza Pit second in the Madison market, behind Pizza Hut.
• The store at 1401 Emil St. was a Pizza Pit for about 41 years, the longest of any address found so far.
• About 1993 the delivery cars were red Ford Tempos with lighted "Pizza Pit" signs on the roof. A former driver remembered that the company leased most of its fleet from Thorstad Chevrolet, and a frequent customer remembered being sent a telephone shaped like the delivery cars as a Christmas present.
• A business called "Tony's Pizza Pit" was the subject of a state labor order upheld in court in February 1969. Whether it was connected with the Pizza Pit chain is not known.

Locations

The franchise system's website listed these stores in September 2026:

• 13 Atlas Ct. (listed as "Madison – East & Far East"). The Pizza Pit inside the Dream Lanes bowling alley was hiring in August 1995; a month later the same address advertised as "Alley Oops'", it was hiring an assistant manager and pizza makers as a "pizza restaurant & family entertainment center" in August 1996, it was listed as Alley Oops in 1998, and the Dream Lanes bowling alley in 2011, when its leagues got "a large Pizza Pit pizza each week".
• 1060 W. Main St., Stoughton ("Now Serving, Carryout or Delivery" in May 2012).
• Outside Madison: Cambridge, Lake Mills, Milton, Oregon, Stoughton and Sun Prairie in Wisconsin, and Ames, Iowa.

For 1614 Monroe St., see Pizza Extreme.

Former Locations

• 608 University Ave. (by September 1969; one of the four stores of April 1971). A 1985 dining guide lists 616 University Ave. with the same telephone number. The 1980 Yellow Pages already list 616 University Ave.
• 1349 Williamson St. (by April 1971; still the Near East store in 1980).
• 3862 Johns St., "across from C&P Plaza" (by March 1971). By 1980 the Far East store, with the same telephone number, was at 4126 Monona Dr.
• 1401 Emil St. (by March 1971 to 2012; trading as Diablos Inn in 1980).
• East Towne Mall (new in February 1982; held a Class B liquor license in 1990, listed at 78 East Towne Mall with Terry Voice as agent, but not renewed in May 1991; a beer license at 4237 Lien Rd., on the mall's outlots, in May 1998; closed between July 1999 and January 2000).
• 2803 University Ave. (new in July 1984).
• 4126 Monona Dr., Lake Edge Shopping Center (the Far East store by 1980; open in February 1987).
• 134 Westgate Mall (the West store in 1980).
• 5415-B Monona Dr., Monona (listed in 1995; closed between July 1999 and January 2000).
• 4525 Cottage Grove Rd., also given as 4527 (new in February 1987; open in March 2000).
• 1860 E. Washington Ave., also given as 1869 (by January 2000; open in March 2000).
• 1614 Monroe St. (by January 2000; open in March 2000).
• 6668 Odana Rd., in the Market Square shopping center (licensed by May 1986; licensed in May 1998; open in March 2000).
• 6628 Odana Rd. (listed in September 2024; closed by August 2025). Possibly the same store as 6668 Odana Rd.
• 1417 Northport Dr., at Troy Drive (the North store by 1980; to January 2000).
• 5706 Raymond Rd. (on Food Share Day in May 1998; a Pizza Extreme by March 2000).
• Badger Bowl, 506 E. Badger Rd. (2000).
• Middleton (at 2620 Allen Blvd., Middleton Springs Shopping Center, in 1980; open in 1984; at 2506 Allen Blvd., with the same telephone number, in 1995; closed 1999).
• 105 S. Main St., Oregon (franchise, listed in 1995).
• 1200 Highway 151, Mount Horeb (closed before July 2010, when a Pizza Extreme opened in the store).

The seven stores open in January 2000 are listed in the reports of their closing and reopening; the five open in March 2000 are from a help-wanted advertisement.

Offices

• 2154 Atwood Ave. (home offices, 1984).
• 402 S. Gammon Pl. (franchise company and training school, 1983).
• 4253 Argosy Ct. (headquarters and commissary, 1989 to 1999; 221-6777 in 1998).
• 5429 Monona Dr. (from late 1999).

See also

• Pizza Extreme
• Pizza Pit in the Madison Pizza Wiki database