US Pizza Co., a Little Rock-based pizza chain, plans to open its first Texas restaurant in Texarkana this spring.
Sam Dickins, owner, is a long time fan of this chain that got its start in 1972. Dickins has been a fan of the product and culture of US Pizza Co., since his college days, so when the time came to leave the insurance business, he wanted to go into something that would allow him to stay closer to home.
"I'm from Foreman, Ark., but I've live in Texarkana, since 2004. This is home," he said. "So when it came time to find out what is next, I not only wanted my trade to be more conducive to being close to home, I was looking for a particular culture."
This brought US Pizza Co., to mind. Drew Weber, president of franchising for US Pizza Co., said the company has expanded slowly and carefully over the years. Recently, they've become more aggressive in granting franchises, having decided they want to establish a presence in all the states bordering Arkansas. But they don't want to let just anyone open a US Pizza Co.
"I emailed them once a week for a few years," Dickins joked, making it clear that this was something he really wanted to do. So when the corporate decision came down to expand out-of-state, Dickins was given the go-ahead and the Lone Star State would be the first state outside Arkansas to open doors on US Pizza Co.
"We want to foster a particular culture at our restaurants," said Weber. "We not only have great food, but we want our franchisees to be community-minded as well as take care of their employees. When we decided to open a restaurant in Texas, we were sure that Dickins wanted to run that kind of place."
"The community seems super excited about US Pizza Co., coming here," said Dickins. "We have gotten thousands of views on our Facebook page and we aren't even open yet. We are picking up lots of buzz, lots of interest. My business partner, Bryan Callaway, is also excited about opening our doors and serving Texarkana. We will feature our signature thin crust pizza cooked in stone hearth ovens. We will provide the personal touch for our customers. And for warm weather, we will have a dining patio for outdoor enjoyment."
US Pizza Co. will open some time in the spring of 2018. The company's web site is at http://uspizzaco.net/. The Texarkana franchise's Facebook page is at www.facebook.com/uspizzatexarkana/