Ian's Pizza (Q991)
From Madison Pizza Wiki
pizza business in Madison, Wisconsin
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Ian's Pizza |
pizza business in Madison, Wisconsin |
Statements
In 2009 it had outlets in Madison and Milwaukee and one near Wrigley Field in Chicago.
Known for its mac 'n cheese slice and seasonal specials such as a Thanksgiving pizza. Each store has its own group of employee, friend and family owners. Ian Gurfield (2026): "tavern-style pizza is definitely having a moment."
In 2011 it delivered up to 1,200 pizzas a day to Act 10 protesters at the Capitol, ordered from all 50 states and 72 countries. In 2020 it again gave pizza to protesters, and a "Stay home! Send pizza!" fund sent its pies to hospital workers.
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Only three of its seven restaurants got Restaurant Revitalization Fund grants (2021). It guaranteed tipped workers $15 an hour and paid $2 more after 10 p.m.
The Thanksgiving pizza has been on the November menu in some form since at least 2007; Jeff Bach overhauled the modern turkey-stuffing-cranberry slice at the commissary around 2010.
Protest pizza, 2011: 60 slices given away on February 15; over 3,000 20-inch pizzas within a week; close to 56,000 slices in all, paid for by donors in all 50 states and more than 50 countries, including a research station in Antarctica. "This is what democracy tastes like" T-shirts. Stores then: State and Frances streets, Milwaukee and Chicago. "We have always said, we're pro pizza."
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Mac n' Cheese topped every Capital Times Top 5 list of Ian's slices from 2010 to 2013. The chain won a Bicycle Benefits award in March 2010, launched its app at the end of 2012, and hosted the National Pizza Eating Championship on Library Mall on September 21, 2013.
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Ian Gurfield, from Massachusetts, looked at 50 college towns (Bloomington, Indiana, was second choice) before opening at 319 N. Frances St. in 2001; about 300,000 slices a year by 2005; a third store near Wrigley Field, Chicago, opened in June 2008 with employee managing partners, not franchisees; a Milwaukee store existed by 2009.
Signature slices: mac and cheese (best seller), tomato pesto, steak and fries, guacamole burrito, chicken penne alfredo; 2009 top five: Mac & Cheese, Chili Cheese Fritos, Smokey the Bandit, Tri-Veggie, Philly Cheesesteak. A UW seniors' poster listed 'one more late-night snack at Ian's'.
3 references
Ian Gurfield, 24, a UMass-Amherst philosophy graduate, modelled the shop on an Amherst slice place, looked at 60 college towns (nearly Bloomington, Ind.) and chose Madison for its 'psychographics'; opened Oct. 31, 2001 next to The Living Room; slices $2.50 (cheese $1.75); no breadsticks or sandwiches — 'you focus on one thing and you do it well'. Daily Cardinal readers' Favorite Pizza 2002.
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31 October 2001
2001
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When he founded Ian's Pizza By the Slice in 2001
January 2026
7
January 2026
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three in Madison, three in Milwaukee and one in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
7
July 2021
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of its seven restaurants in Madison and Milwaukee
2
November 2005
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November 2001
