Type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Restaurants |
Founded | Hull, Iowa, U.S. (1981 ) |
Founders | Adrie Groeneweg Lawrence Vander Esch |
Headquarters | Orange City, Iowa, U.S. |
Number of locations | 216 |
Products | Pizza, chicken |
Revenue | US$138.121 million [1] |
Website | pizzaranch |
Pizza Ranch, Inc., founded in 1981, [2] [3] is a Midwestern fast casual restaurant chain. Pizza Ranch offers pizza, chicken, a salad bar, and a pizza and chicken buffet. [4] Pizza Ranch has over 200 locations [5] in Iowa, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Tennessee, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Pizza Ranch was founded by Adrie Groeneweg [6] and Lawrence Vander Esch. Vander Esch, however, left the company in 2001 after being arrested and sent to prison for sexual abuse involving obtaining semen samples of his teen employees. [7] [8] The first restaurant opened December 21, 1981, in Hull, Iowa. [9] [10] The second Pizza Ranch opened in Orange City, Iowa in 1983. [11]
Pizza Ranch has grown over the years and now has franchises in thirteen states. Pizza Ranch's specialties are pizza and chicken. [12] Their headquarters, formerly located in Hull, Iowa, have moved to Orange City, Iowa. [13] [14]
Pizza Ranch is a Christian-based company. [15] [6] The Pizza Ranch vision is "To glorify God by positively impacting the world we live in." [6]
Because Iowa has the first caucus for US presidential primary elections and Pizza Ranch has over 70 locations in Iowa, [16] they are a frequent stop for presidential candidates, particularly for Republicans due to the chain's conservative bent, although Democrats have historically made appearances as well. [17] [18] [19] The 'Pizza Ranch strategy' was first noted in Mike Huckabee's campaign at the 2008 Republican caucuses; Huckabee went on to win the caucuses despite being a longshot candidate. [20]
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Lawrence Vander Esch from Sioux County spent time in prison on charges that he sexually abused male employees. ... In addition, the charges against Vander Esch, who was released from prison in 2006, have been vacated by a district court judge citing an Iowa Supreme Court ruling. Vander Esch, Kochel pointed out, is no longer with the chain of 180 restaurants across the Midwest.
Many of the Republican presidential candidates have a hefty goal in Iowa ahead of its first-in-nation caucuses: make a campaign stop in all of the state's 99 counties. Along the way, presidential hopefuls are turning to the Iowa-based restaurant chain Pizza Ranch, whose ubiquity and inexpensive cuisine have made it a staple of the caucus campaign trail.
But candidates of all political stripes visit Pizza Ranches: Democrat Hillary Clinton was the first to set foot in one ahead of 2008, according to Des Moines Register data. Democrats Joe Biden, John Edwards, Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson also appeared at Pizza Ranches for their '08 campaigns.