Happy Joe’s, a popular family-friendly pizza chain from the Upper Midwest, is coming to the Valley.
Its first Arizona restaurant will open on Warner Road, just east of Gilbert Road, in Gilbert in about six weeks.
The space in front of Lifetime Fitness formerly housed Pita Di Vita, which closed last November.
Happy Joe’s menu also offers baked pasta dishes, hot sandwiches, and ice cream, but it’s the speciality pizzas that have an almost cult-like following.
The bestseller is the Taco Joe (pictured), topped with refried beans, taco-seasoned beef, sausage, lettuce, tomatoes, taco chips, and Spicey Joe’s taco sauce.
The Bettendorf, Iowa-based chain, which started in 1972, claims the Taco Joe was the industry’s first taco pizza.
Today, it also serves a Taco Supreme pizza (a Taco Joe plus sour cream, black olives, and onions) and a Nacho Joe with spicy nacho cheese.
Another popular specialty pizza is its Happy Joe’s Special, topped with diced Canadian bacon and sauerkraut.
The 1,300-square-foot Gilbert restaurant will be quite small by Happy Joe’s standards – seating just 32 inside with a couple more tables on a sidewalk patio.
It will have carryout and delivery available.
A soft opening is planned for mid-May, with a grand opening at the beginning of June – and another in the fall for returning winter visitors.
The owner says he has plans to open a second, larger Happy Joe’s, but “nowhere close” to the Gilbert one.
Happy Joe’s currently has 52 locations in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Illinois.
