Everything You Need To Know Before Eating At Pizza Inn

Who doesn't love a freshly delivered or oven-baked pizza? Topped with pepperoni, sausage, bell peppers, even pineapple, or anything else your heart desires, pizza is for everyone. And because pizza is so popular, there are many ways to get your fix when a craving strikes. Sure, you could drive down to that fancy Italian restaurant a couple miles away, but you could also purchase a frozen pie from the supermarket, or even better, order it fresh for delivery. It's easier than ever these days, as pizza chains have popped up all over the country. Think Papa Johns, Domino's, or Toppers, just to name a few — all brilliant stores to get fantastic pizzas from. None, however, are quite like Pizza Inn.

Proclaiming itself to be America's hometown pizza buffet, Pizza Inn offers loads of different pizza options, served up at its all-day buffet, or available for delivery. All the classic delicious pizzas that you order from other restaurants you can find here, and enjoy their cheesy goodness. But like any pizza chain, restaurant, or even grocery store, there's a lot that we as the consumers likely don't know about the inner workings of Pizza Inn — until now, that is. Read on for everything you need to know about Pizza Inn before the next time you hit up the buffet.

Pizza Inn has been in the pizza-making game for a long time now. And when you make an incredible cheese or pepperoni pizza, there isn't really a need to change anything about the recipe. But there's a lot more that goes into a successful business. A brand's logo, their online website, and even the way a restaurant is laid out sometimes needs to be revisited by companies in order to give their business a cleaner, more refreshing feel. And recently, Pizza Inn did exactly that, undergoing a major rebrand of their logo and more to update the look and feel of the brand in September 2022. 

With Pizza Inn's latest redesign, the company hopes to pay homage to their past, while at the same time, embracing the changes that come with technological and stylistic innovation. And according to a company press release, along with the updated logo design, there are changes coming to the restaurants as well. The chain plans on adding a party room made for families and groups of people to gather and enjoy themselves with some pizza. They also have plans to completely redo the restaurant interiors as well, giving locations a fresher, more modern look (as per Restaurant Business). There even seems to be plans for a photo area, where you can stand in front of a pair of cheesy wings and a halo and become a pizza angel, all for Instagram, of course. 

Pizza certainly makes for a cheesy, saucy, and filling meal, but what if you want something a little sweeter once you've had your fill of slices? If you're at a birthday party or sports gathering, you can often follow up your pizza with some cake or ice cream. And if you're ordering from a pizza chain, you can sometimes find dessert pizzas made with cinnamon and served with ice cream. Even cookie cakes are reminiscent of pizza, albeit way more sweet. You can make dessert pizzas at home too, but if you're at Pizza Inn, you can do one better and help yourself to a selection of desserts that will satisfy any pizza lover's sweet tooth, including their original "Pizzerts."

Pizzerts, as the name suggests, are Pizza Inn's signature dessert pizzas. They come topped with chocolate chips, Bavarian cream, or a the selection of fruits. These dessert pizzas have been around Pizza Inn for quite a while now. According to Pizza Inn, the first Pizzert pizza was made in 1986, meaning that the chain has sold this sweet, delightful dessert for over 35 years now. And the chain claims it was the first ever to create a dessert pizza. Over the years, the Pizzert has evolved, and Pizza Inn has served up some pretty uniquely flavored and limited-edition pizzerts in the past — pumpkin pizzert anyone? (via Restaurant Magazine). 

When it comes to restaurants, it has to be admitted that things slowed down a lot during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many small mom-and-pop restaurants had to shut down entirely, while other locations had to cut hours, staff, or even the number of customers they could help at once. Of course, even before the pandemic, some restaurants across the country were struggling, and the pandemic only made it worse. This includes Pizza Inn, which, according to an Eat This, Not That article, was close to bankruptcy in 2020. 

That possible bankruptcy is likely due to a decrease in sales, as the chain placed a heavy emphasis on the family-style buffet aspect of its restaurants. That's not to say this all came crashing upon Pizza Inn at once. Even before the pandemic, the company was struggling in terms of sales. While around 152 stores could be found across the country in 2018, at Pizza Inn's peak the chain had around 500 locations (via FSR Magazine). That's already a pretty significant drop, and the pandemic certainly didn't help, either. Before the virus hit the states, Pizza Inn reportedly had 155 locations in the Southeast (via Yahoo News). However, as of December 2021, the number of Pizza Inns dropped to 128, which is a much further cry from its heyday.

Pizza Inn is not owned by a single individual or family, but rather the RAVE Restaurant Group, which is a company that works primarily with pizza. In fact, the company used to be called Pizza Inn Holdings, Inc., and while the name has changed, Pizza Inn is still a huge part of the RAVE Restaurant Group's work. However, while Pizza Inn is one of the oldest pizza restaurant chains that RAVE owns, it isn't the only one. The company actually owns two pizza brands, the first, of course, being Pizza Inn, while the second is known as Pie Five Pizza.

Pie Five Pizza, aside from offering its patrons fantastic pizza, is fairly different from Pizza Inn. While both have dessert menus, the famous pizzert isn't present on Pie Five Pizza menus. Furthermore, Pizza Inn doesn't just have pizza — you can get wings, pastas, and other great foods from each restaurant. Meanwhile Pie Five Pizza primarily focuses on the pizza aspect of its menu, with some salads and breadstick options on the side. While both of the restaurants that the RAVE Restaurant Group owns seem great in their own right, Pizza Inn seems to offer a lot more heart and nostalgia than the newer, faster pizza-themed restaurant that is Pie Five Pizza.

If you work with pizza and love your job, then you may want to spend your entire life in the industry, or at least in proximity to a restaurant that sells the fantastic pies. Many of the head figures who run Pizza Inn have experience in the restaurant industry, though one individual in particular has experience in pizza — and not just any pizza, but a chain that you've likely heard of and eaten at. Brandon Solano is the current Chief Executive Officer for RAVE Restaurant Group, though he hasn't always had the position. Before he took up a spot in the company, he worked for another pizza chain — Domino's.

According to Michigan Live, Brandon Solano previously worked at Domino's as the Vice President of Brand Innovation. He developed and introduced new desserts and food items to the pizza chain's menu, and helped generate and execute new ideas with Domino's product marketing team. After his work at Domino's he also worked at chains such as Wendy's, Pei Wei Asian Kitchen, and Papa Murphy's, until he found a place with the RAVE Restaurant Group (via Food Business News). Even with his experience at Domino's alone, that's a pretty impressive resume, so we could see why Solano was hired.