By Tracy Morin
Friendships not only laid the foundation for Davanni’s Pizza & Hot Hoagies; they’ve been instrumental in ushering it to the 50-year mark.
Mick Stenson, the brand’s chairman and founder, opened the business in 1975 with two buddies, Roger Schelper and Bob Carlson. The trio was influenced by a friend’s father-in-law, Tony Pontillo, who owned a pizzeria in New York and inspired the original name, Pontillo’s (changed to Davanni’s in 1983).
“It was a side income at the time, but it grew into something quite different,” Stenson recalls. “We learned the business, and we had strong feelings about how we wanted to treat employees and customers.”
Located in St. Paul, Minnesota, near multiple colleges in a family-friendly neighborhood, Davanni’s found early success with New York-style pizza and Hot Hoagies, then unique in the area. By the end of the 1970s, it had grown to four locations; over the years, the original ballooned from 33 to about 150 seats.
Today, the brand has 19 outposts in Minnesota, plus a bakery (opened in 1997) that makes its hoagie rolls, cookies and brownies—while also producing for outside businesses. Meanwhile, retail items, from frozen pizzas and lasagna to sauces and cheeses, grace grocery stores as far as Wisconsin and Iowa.
As Schelper and Carlson have sold their stakes and Stenson transitions to semi-retirement, Stenson’s daughters, Katie Elmer and Kristy Silva, pitch in part-time. But at Davanni’s, “family” extends beyond blood relatives; numerous supervisors and managers have clocked decades in the business.
“In good part, the longevity of our company is due to our employees buying into our credo,” Stenson says. “‘Care, work hard and have fun’—that sign is up in every store. That means we care about each other, and we care about the customer.”
That care touches the entire community: through its annual Pizzalympics (a pizza making competition that includes a knowledge test, open to all employees), in-store fundraising (amassing more than a half-million dollars over the years for local causes), and close-knit vendor relations.
Luckily, scores of loyal Minnesotans return the love. “We’re very fortunate,” Stenson says. “We had no idea we’d be in business 50 years later….It’s a lot of work, a lot of ups and downs, and a lot of successes with your team if you do it right.”
Tracy Morin is PMQ’s associate editor.
