Too Local: Pizza Party

I know many of you here are pizza snobs that wouldn’t touch a frozen pizza, but it is a staple of the American diet none the less; enjoyed by drunks and teenagers across the land. The world wide frozen pizza market was $19.6 BILLION in 2019*.

The popularity of pizza exploded in the United States after WWII. Being offered as most things at the time as a freshly cooked food from a restaurant or home made. In the early 1950s some pizzerias began to offer uncooked refrigerated pizza for sale, like the current take and bake trend. Shortly there after frozen pizzas began to be produced.

Our story concerns the founding of two companies that would go on to become two of biggest sellers of frozen pizza, Tombstone and Jack’s. In 2018 Tombstone sold $55.18 million worth of pizza, while Jack’s sold $55.54 million*. Today both are owned by Nestle, but have their origins in 1960s Wisconsin.

The roots of Tombstone Pizza start in Medford, a town northwest of Wausau. I bought a car once in Medford, that guy was a real dick so I made the down payment in quarters. But that has nothing to do with pizza. Brothers Pep and Ron Simek owned a bar across the street from a cemetery so naturally they named it The Tombstone Tavern. According to the tall tail on the Tombstone website, one night in 1962 Joe was dancing and broke his leg. While recuperating and unable to tend bar he worked in the kitchen and started making pizza. The pizza was a hit and the brothers began packing up their ’59 Cadillac with dry ice and frozen pizzas, selling their pizza across the state. In 1988 the pizza company was bought by Kraft and sold to Nestle in 2010. The Tombstone factory is still in Medford.

Jack’s Pizza has its roots southeast of Medford in the Appleton area, in a town called Little Chute. John (Jack) Toby Elrick and his wife Irene built a pizza kitchen in their garage in 1960 to make pizza for friends and neighbors. In 1962 Jack began delivering the pizzas in his ’49 Plymouth. In 1968 James Geerts bought Jack’s Pizza and in 1971 entered the frozen pizza market. Kraft purchased the business in 1992 and sold it to Nestle in the same 2010 deal as Tombstone. Jack’s Pizza is still produced in Little Chute.

 

If you’ve never heard of Medford, Wisconsin here are some facts:

  • Claims to be the Mink capitol of the world
  • Population on the 2020 Census 4,326
  • The car I bought their sucked and died before I could pay off the loan

 

If you’ve never heard of Little Chute, Wisconsin here are some facts:

  • The character of Mike Nelson on Mystery Science Theater was from Little Chute (The actor Michael J. Nelson who played him is from St. Charles, Illinois)
  • The population was 10,449 at the 2010 census
  • Has a full-scale authentic working Dutch windmill which serves as a museum and tourist attraction

 

*pizzaneed.com