When Melissa and Jason Hutter sold their 23-year-old restaurant, Amico’s Midwest Pizzeria in Bonduel, Wisconsin, last July, they hoped the new owners would stick to what was proven to work. And Lauren and Jerred Laubscher have done exactly that, according to New Media Inc.
The transaction turned out to be an example of an ideal ownership switch, practically a case study in how to transfer a pizza business from one family to another.
Jerred spent two-and-a-half months following Jason all over the restaurant, watching closely as Jason built the pies and hoagies, made pastas and tossed the salads. “People have been coming here for a long time,” Lauren Laubscher told New Media. “There are the regulars that we didn’t want to upset. Everybody has been so kind, and the community has been amazing. We’ve gotten a lot of community support.”
The Laubschers were already considering buying Amico’s when they went to a youth hockey league party at a restaurant called Good Vibes Bar and Grill. Since Good Vibes doesn’t have pizza on its own menu, it shares a window pass-through with Amico’s. On this particular night, Lauren watched curiously as pies were slipped over to the Good Vibes side. At one point, when Jason peered through the window, Lauren said to him, “I keep telling my husband that he should buy Amico’s.”
“Well, he should,” responded Jason, who had already put the pizzeria up for sale.
But Jason apparently had second thoughts about selling the shop and took it off the market for six months. Then, he listed it for sale again, and this time the Laubschers were ready.
“We kept everything the same,” Lauren told New Media. “The Hutters had this business for 23 years, so they worked out all the kinks before us…Why fix it if it’s not broken?”
While Jerred now serves as Amico’s pizza maker, Hutter still plays a major role. He owns Little Village Pizza Crusts, offering a line of premade thin crusts and raised-edge crusts as well as frozen dough balls. And that’s where the Laubschers get their crusts to this day. (Interestingly, Little Village’s services also include duplicating any pizza shop’s crust for mass production.)
Better yet, the Amico deal came with a bonus that’s right on trend in 2026: a frozen pizza line. “They’ve been flying off the shelves,” Lauren said. “They can now be sold in grocery stores, bars or convenience stores.”
The Hutters and the Laubschers have remained friendly, with Jason continuing to make the hoagie buns and the pizza dough for Amico’s. And the Laubschers are still passing pies through the window to Good Vibes Bar and Grill.
The Hutters, Lauren said, “have been great mentors to us, and we’re really grateful for that.”
