Pizza Ranch again blazes trail to White House candidate stops

Frequent bring national attention to Northwest Iowa-based chain

ddreeszen@siowecityjournal. com

BYDAVEDREESZEN

ORANGE CITY, Iowa - As the political world breathlessly watched the nail-biting finish to Iowa's presidential caucuses last Tuesday night, a Northwest Iowabased pizza chain caught the attention of the Internet.
The Twitter hashtag #PizzaRanch became a "trending topic," one of the most discussed items on the social-media site at any given moment. "What is this Pizza Ranch they keep talking about ?" one out-ofstate tweet asked. The Western-themed restaurants, known for their buffets of pizza, broasted chicken and salads, became a favorite stop for Republican hopefuls as they criss-crossed the state. In his caucus night speech, Rick Santorum, who finished within eight votes of a seemingly improbable victory, mentioned his frequent travels to the chain. "This has been an incredible journey, 90 counties, 381 town hall meetings... 36 Pizza Ranches," the former Pennsylvania senator told his supporters, who interrupted him with laughter. "You'll notice I'm not buttoning my coat for a reason." Pizza Ranch's prominence in this year's race attracted widespread national media attention. The Los Angeles Times, for example, published a story in late December with the head-

line, "Easy as pie: Iowa's cam-

paign trail runs through Pizza Ranch."

age.

National TV networks and cable news channels also frequently mentioned Pizza Ranch, providing the regional chain with valuable free publicity, said Daniel Bliss of Universal Information Services, an Omaha-based firm that monitors and analyzes media cover-

diences with a total of 32 million viewers, according to a report Bliss helped compile last week. PIZZA, PAGE E2

Since Aug. 1, broadcast mentions of Pizza Ranch reached au-

FREE PUBLICITY

Pizza: Meeting rooms sized right

the company received during that period was equivalent to about $862,000 in paid advertising, Buss said. During the five -month period starting Aug. 1, the number of times the company was mentioned in broadcasts nearly equalled those during the prior 18 months, he said. "It's really been fun to watch a local company garner that much coverage and be mentioned so often," Bliss said. A Pizza Ranch representative declined the Journal's invitation last week to comment on the national publicity the caucuses brought to the business. Company president and co-founder

FROM PAGED The amount of air time

"If you can put 40-50 people in the back room of a Pizza Ranch, you have a pretty good political event," Robinson said.

activist ]Bob Vander Plaats, who chaired Huckabee 's

for the first time and often result in added lunch or

some voters to Pizza Ranch

The events introduce

campaign in Iowa, started taking the former Arkansas governor around to the res-

taurants to introduce him to

Miie Giotneweg also did

not immediately return calls to the Journal.

ATTRACTIVE VENUES Pizza Ranches have become a popular destination for politicians for a number of reasons. For starters, many of the more than 70 Iowa locations are in county seats and other smaller rural towns where candidates need to visit, but there are few other options for holding mid to large -size public

dinner business. At times, larger crowds, however, can make it difficult for the restaurant to go about business as usual. In the final weekend leading up to the caucuses, for example, Santorum, surging in the polls, attract ed crowds of 200 people or more to Pizza Ranches in the central Iowa cities of Altoona, Boone and Newton. "He took over the entire restaurant," recalled Robinson, who attended one of the meetings. "It was packed. I've been to a lot of events at Pizza Ranches, but I've never been to one where we're standing on the salad bar."

group that stopped at 69 Pizza Ranches.

local residents. "It's great food. It's affordable, and it's a noncontroversial place for people to meet," said Vander Plaats, who now heads the Family Leader, an Iowa conservative organization. Last yeat, he led a statewide unity tour sponsored by the

launch Pizza Ranch at age 19. From a single restaurant in Hull, Iowa, the business has grown into more than 150 locations in nine states. It's the largest pizza chain in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. Three years ago, the business moved its headquarters

Vander Plaats is a friend of Groeneweg, who helped

a race. Even if just a few dozen people show up, the venue still looks full, said Craig Robinson, editor of the Iowa Republican, a website that covers state politics.

events. The restaurants also don't charge for the use of their meeting rooms, which are sized right for most candidates, particularly campaigns in the early stages of

BUSINESS MINISTRY Besides handy locations, Pizza Ranch's Christianoriented mission, which it calls a business ministry, also appeals to GOP candidates looking to reach out to evangelical voters, who make up a large percentage of the caucus electorate.

The privately held

to its website.

company's vision is "to glorify God by positively impacting the

world we live in," according

20,000-square-foot complex, on the south edge of Orange City, houses more than three dozen accounting staffers and franchise consultants, as well as a research and development kitchen, a lecture hall and classrooms for Pizza Ranch University, where both new and old franchisees and managers train on new products.

from downtown Hull to nearby Orange City; The

During the 2008 campaign, Pizza Ranches turned into a home away from home for Mike Huckabee, who scored a surprise caucus victory on the strength of evangelical support. Sioux City conservative