Shakey’s wants to bring back the pizza parlor

For the Tilley family that owns Shakey’s USA, the rebrand is somewhat personal. | Photo by Lisa Jennings

When it comes to restaurant chains, the love Americans have for certain brands endures.

Steak & Ale. The Ground Round. Chi-Chi’s. These are restaurants long thought dead that entrepreneurs are attempting to bring back, cheered on by nostalgic consumers who think fondly of simpler times.

Now, Shakey’s is one of the oldest concepts to attempt a brand reawakening for a new generation.

The original logo as a wall mural. | Photo by Lisa Jennings

Shakey’s is 71 years old, founded in 1954 in Sacramento, California, and at one point in the 1970s had more than 500 units globally. It was the nation’s first pizza chain franchise, though it has shrunk considerably in the U.S. to only 47 restaurants today, mostly in California.

For baby boomers, Gen X and some millennials, Shakey’s—and the brand’s pizza, fried chicken and crispy Mojo Potatoes—are all part of the fabric of their youth. 

Anyone who played youth sports, for example, likely spent time at a Shakey’s, especially for the wallet- and kid-friendly Bunch of Lunch buffet with unlimited slices, chicken and those irresistible circles of fried potatoe slices (which were always best when the hot pan was freshly refilled).

The brand appears in iconic movies like “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Wayne’s World.” Celebrities like Eddie Van Halen, Dave Grohl and Billy Bob Thornton have reportedly worked at Shakey’s earlier in their careers.

It’s a touchstone for a certain era. 

And that’s why John Tilley, whose family owns the rights to Shakey’s in North America under Jacmar Companies, hopes to bring the chain back to its roots.

Later this month, Jacmar Companies debuted a new iteration of Shakey’s in Los Angeles that harkens back to its heyday. 

For Tilley, that means the 1980s (when he was growing up), which seem to be enjoying a retro-revival of sorts, thanks to series like “Stranger Things.” But his goal is to encourage franchisees to throw back to the past era of their choice.

“It doesn’t have to be limited to the 1980s or ‘90s. Go back to the 1970s, go back to the ‘60s,” he said. “Make it old so that the past is romanticized. We all look on that past fondly.”

Shakey’s serves a thin-crust pizza, made from scratch in house. | Photo courtesy of Shakey’s USA.

Whichever timeline franchisees choose, however, Tilley wants to bring back the pizza parlor model.

Shakey’s is technically considered a quick-service brand. But Tilley hopes to see a return to the days of group hangouts and family meals. The new Shakey’s prototype has 270-seats with a bar, an outdoor patio and a game room for kids. A second iteration of the Shakey’s prototype is scheduled to open later this year, also in Los Angeles.

The goal is to get Shakey’s growing again in the U.S., said Tilley, who calls himself the “creative visionary” behind the revamp.

Tilley is also an investor in the “Friends”-themed coffeehouse Central Perk, which has a location in Boston and soon is expected to open in New York in Times Square, he said. He’s also a backer of the fast-casual concept Tacos 1986, and Jacmar is developing its own new concepts.

But Tilley is all in on Shakey’s. And that brand’s story—and the Tilley family’s role in it—is a walk through California restaurant history.

The Shakey’s story

In 1954, Sherwood “Shakey” Johnson opened the first Shakey’s Pizza Parlor & Ye Public House in a remodeled former grocery store in Sacramento with his college friend Ed Plummer. According to Wikipedia, Johnson suffered nerve damage after a bout with malaria while serving in World War II, which is how he earned the nickname.

Tilley said the concept was initially designed to offer a “cornucopia of culture.” The décor was like a British pub, but it served Italian food (pizza) and German beer. (Tilley said the company looked at reopening the original location, but the building is in what has become an unsuitable location.)

The first Shakey’s location in Sacramento, California. | Photo courtesy of Shakey’s USA.

Johnson was a fan of ragtime jazz, and he played the piano to entertain patrons, and later hired jazz bands. That musical element lingered into the 1970s, when some locations had player pianos or banjo players. (Johnson would later be hailed as promoter of jazz in the region.)

Two years later, Johnson opened the second location in Oregon, and franchising was launched in 1957. At that point, other chains like McDonald’s and KFC were franchising, but Shakey’s is believed to be the first pizza franchise. (Pizza Hut began franchising in 1959.)

Sherwood “Shakey” Johnson, left, was known for his muttonchop sideburns. | Photo courtesy of Shakey’s USA.

Within 10 years, the Shakey’s chain grew to 272 units across the U.S. In 1967, Johnson sold his half of the company to the Colorado Milling and Elevator Company of Denver.

This marked the beginning of a roller coaster ride for Shakey’s, which spent the next 35 years riding out changes in ownership.

In 1968, Colorado Milling merged with Great Western Sugar Company to form Great Western United Corp., and, at that point, Plummer also sold his half interest in Shakey’s for $10 million (that’s the equivalent of about $93 million today) to Great Western. At that point, Shakey’s had 325 units.

That year, the Shakey’s brand started to go international, beginning with franchise locations in Canada and Mexico, and then, by 1973, in Japan.

Another acquisition came in 1974. What was then Shakey’s Inc. was bought by Hunt International Resources (HIR), a company founded by oil magnate H.L. Hunt, whose sons later became known for making unsuccessful bets on the silver market. But they also diversified with acquisitions like Shakey’s. 

The next year, a Shakey’s franchise opened in the Philippines, which proved to be pivotal in the brand’s global prospects. Shakey’s now has more than 300 units there and it remains the strongest market for the brand.

In 1984, former Shakey’s employees-turned-franchisees Gary Brown and Jay Halverson acquired the domestic rights to Shakey’s Inc., and the international division became a separate company, still under HIR. But, five years later, both Shakey’s Inc. and Shakey’s International were acquired by Inno-Pacific, a Singapore-based company.

Within a few years, things had soured with Inno-Pacific, reportedly resulting in lawsuits filed by franchisees, and many unit closures in the U.S. 

In 2004, Jacmar, which then was led by John Tilley’s father Bill Tilley, acquired the rights to Shakey’s in North America, and the franchisee became franchisor of Shakey’s USA. Outside the U.S., Shakey’s is franchised by Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc. (SPAVI), which is based in the Philippines.

A new era

Bill Tilley, John’s father, was an experienced operator and the brand’s largest franchisee, with 19 units at the time. Jacmar also franchised Sizzler and had other ventures, including real estate and a distribution company.

In fact, Bill was an early investor in Taco Bell with that brand’s founder, Glen Bell, and was a partner when the taco chain was sold to PepsiCo in 1978, John said. (The family also invested early in BJ’s Restaurants, which John said proved to be a big “slam dunk.”) Bill Tilley died in 2013. 

Last year, the family bought out shareholders to consolidate ownership. John’s mother, Nadine, is on the board, as was John’s sister Nicole, who died last year. She was a “huge driver of the brand,” said Michael Grundgeiger, president and COO of Shakey’s USA.

John, however, who first worked at Shakey’s as a teenager and grew up with the brand, is leading the Shakey’s revival.

The rebranded Shakey’s in Culver City is awaiting permits to open this month. | Photo by Lisa Jennings

For John, the rebrand feels personal.

On the wall are the sports team plaques from John’s childhood. Family members hand-glued cassette tapes to the wall, to add to the 1980s retro vibe targeting Gen Xers, in particular.

“They’ll bring their kids and say, ‘This is what I had when I was a kid,’” John said.

The original Tiffany lamps hang over the bar. There, friends can grab a beer far from the arcade, where kids can attempt to win a stuffed Mojo the dog, a new mascot that will soon appear in advertising.

Shakey’s original lamps hang over the bar. | Photo by Lisa Jennings

At a pre-opening party, John points to all the “Easter egg” references to the era, like an “E.T.” movie poster next to a pay phone, vintage lunch boxes and Trapper Keepers, and a Lambda Lambda Lambda fraternity sign from “Revenge of the Nerds.”

Guests still order at the counter, but food is run to tables. And now QR codes on the tables allow diners to order another drink or dessert.

“I’ve never liked the term fast casual,” said John. “But I see this as ‘slow casual.’ We want people to experience the human element.”

One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the pizza, which is made from scratch in restaurants with freshly grated cheese. The chicken is also fried (dusted with flour but not battered) and served on the bone. 

During the pandemic, Shakey’s attempted a virtual brand with a fried chicken sandwich and the Mojo potatoes. That sandwich, and chicken tenders, are also now on the menu, though the virtual brand was abandoned.

The Mojo potatoes were created by a franchisee and the side item became a signature. | Photo by Lisa Jennings

The Mojo potatoes—crispy deep-fried slices, a menu item developed by a franchisee years ago—remain a signature offering. And Grundgeiger contends that the pizza/chicken/potato combination helps Shakey’s stand out in the crowded pizza space.

“If we were just selling pizza, I think we would be in trouble, but we have a lot more to offer on the menu,” he said. “It sets us apart, I think automatically, from your typical traditional takeout pizza.”

The Bunch of Lunch buffet, offered at $14.99 during the week and $15.99 on weekends, remains an incredible value and traffic driver during the early daypart.

Grundgeiger said it accounts for about 40% of sales, offering everyday value at a time when consumers are looking for good deals.

Margins on the all-you-can-eat deal remain “solid,” he said. “It’s something we protect really carefully.” Though Shakey’s has taken some price increases on the broader menu, he said, “I left Bunch of Lunch alone.”

Franchisees will be asked to adopt some of the new branding elements, like the logo and color palette. But Jacmar hopes to be the standard bearer of the new prototype, to show how the investments will pay off.

Fundamentally, the new-and-improved Shakey’s is not really doing anything new, Grundgeiger said.

“We’re just kind of harkening back to a place that I think Shakey’s was very successful in: Communal dining, family sitting around tables, being able to offer different experiences,” he said. “My vision of this is just make it somewhere that’s a little more comfortable. People can relax. They can enjoy themselves and be able to spend quality time, so not rushing people, not trying to worry about table turns. We want to make sure the experience is top of mind.”

Lisa Jennings is a veteran restaurant industry reporter and editor who covers the fast-casual sector, independent restaurants and emerging chain concepts.

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