Glass Nickel Pizza Co. (Q594)
From Madison Pizza Wiki
pizza chain founded in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1997
- Glass Nickel
- Glass Nickel Pizza
- Glass Nickel Pizza Company
- GNP
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Glass Nickel Pizza Co. |
pizza chain founded in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1997 |
|
Statements
4 November 1997
1 reference
And, on Tuesday, the Glass Nickel Pizza Company threw its dough into the ring.
January 2024
January 2024
January 2024
1 reference
will serve as the headquarters for Glass Nickel's nine franchises
September 2005
1 reference
the best seller is the Feta-Licious
1
November 1997
2
4
August 2009
9
2020
9
January 2024
7
March 2010
1 reference
7 Wisconsin franchises
9
January 2014
5
September 2005
7
September 2008
36
August 1999
The name combines the founders' surnames. Stores are owned by former employees: "franchises are not awarded to strangers".
In 2026 the company's site lists Appleton, Brookfield, Fitchburg, Green Bay, Madison East, Madison West, Neenah-Menasha, Sun Prairie, Waukesha and Rib Mountain–Wausau.
From August 1999 an employee ran a late-night pizza truck on Langdon Street, the former Rozino's truck.
Runner-up for People's Choice best pizza in 2024, 2025 and 2026.
In March 2020 delivery volume held about level; the chain stopped taking cash and set no-contact delivery rules.
The west-side store reopened June 1, 2016, after its February fire, with a one-off "Phoenix" pizza and staff in phoenix T-shirts.
In 2014 the Atwood Avenue flagship sold about 600 pizzas a day and had 16 drivers on Super Bowl Sunday. The Fetalicious won the Capital Times' best-pizza poll in November 2013 with 24% of 2,716 votes.
In 2005 Pizza Today rated the Atwood Avenue store among the busiest pizzerias in the country (20 drivers; 55–60 deliveries an hour on Super Bowl Sunday); drivers earned $4.25–$7.25 an hour plus 50 cents a run and tips. In 2008 the chain raised prices 5% rather than cut quality and added a solar water heater and LED lights.
Signature pizzas: the Feta-Licious (best seller: spinach, red onion, mushroom, feta), Cardiac Arrest (all meat), Border-to-Border, the Cheesasaurus; Nickel Nuggets of fried dough. Delivery trucks ran partly on used vegetable oil by 2009.
Brian Glassel and Tim Nicholson met working at Pizza Extreme in the late 1990s; bankers refused them a loan ('too many pizza places'); the first shop opened in November 1997, the same week as Urban Pizza Co. and Pizza Planet; by 2004 it had moved to a larger Atwood Avenue space and added four operations, all run by former employees of the original store (State Journal, Dec. 2004).
Samara Kalk (Sept. 2000): once a favorite, a Survivor-finale order took 90 minutes; a Glass Nickel pizza truck sold slices outside Camp Randall; the East Side store cut off delivery at Park Street and 'the newer west side store doesn't venture beyond the Beltline'; a Verona store 'opens soon'. First in the State Journal readers' 2002 pizza poll; Madison Magazine Best of Madison 2004.
Nov. 1997: the partners wrote down 900 names before a relative suggested Glass Nickel, a play on both surnames; dough made on site; weekly specials such as Thai Chicken; strictly takeout and delivery, promising 'individual attention to each household'. Glassel had owned Royal Pizza in Scranton, Pa., until moving to Madison in 1996; the two met at Pizza Extreme.
