Happy Joe's


Happy Joe's Pizza & Ice Cream Parlor is an American pizza parlor chain based in Bettendorf, Iowa. The restaurant chain was founded in 1972 by Lawrence Joseph "Happy Joe" Whitty, a former Shakey's Pizza manager. Its 61 restaurants are located in the Midwestern United States. The idea for Happy Joe's came from a combination of a pizza parlor and ice cream palace.

Products

Happy Joe's claims to be the first pizza restaurant to offer a taco pizza. After a franchisee suggested adding tacos to the menu, Whitty invented the restaurant's best-selling product, the Taco Pizza. In 2005, Happy Joe's started offering breakfast pizzas at select locations. In 2013, Happy Joe's started offering flatbread pizzas. It also features outlandish birthday parties.

History

The Happy Joe's location on Gilbert Street in Iowa City, Iowa was destroyed by a tornado on April 13, 2006, part of the Easter Week 2006 Tornado Outbreak Sequence. A follow-up restaurant in Coralville was lost to floods in 2008, but it was rebuilt and continued to operate.
On October 29th, 2019, Happy Joe Whitty died at the age of 82 at the Clarissa C. Cook Hospice Center.