Crystal Wise
Pizza Inn
For many of us who were born and bred in Fort Worth, Pizza Inn was often our go-to whenever we wanted a slice.
But it was more than just a restaurant. Especially in small towns, it was where the team went after victorious, or not-so-victorious, football and baseball games. Many a first date was at Pizza Inn, sometimes the only restaurant in town. Families would gather there, too, to celebrate raises and graduations and life’s small achievements; the kids would hover around arcade games (usually Ms. Pac-Man), while the adults combed through the salad bar.
While many think the chain has been wiped from Tarrant County, there is a lone holdout. Found on a less-traveled stretch of Boulevard 26 in Richland Hills is the last standing Pizza Inn in Tarrant County.
From the outside, it doesn’t look like a Pizza Inn. There’s no sign with the mustachioed pizza maker throwing dough in the air. Once inside, though, it’s 1983 all over again, from the twinkling arcade games to the incredibly distinctive smell of pizza dough traveling through an old conveyor oven, its crust browning and pepperoni sizzling with every passing second.
“It’s just like how people remember it,” says general manager Mike Abrams, who has worked here for years, side by side with longtime owner Jim Baenisch, who used to own several Pizza Inns in the area.
The original location of this Pizza Inn is across the street in a still-abandoned building. Old-school Pizza Inn lovers will recognize it instantly.
“You can tell it’s an old Pizza Inn from the shape of the windows [and] the shape of the building,” Abrams says. “There was a very distinct look and style to Pizza Inns.”
Much of Pizza Inn’s business comes from the popular buffet, available at lunch and dinner. With the pandemic continuing to wither, people are feeling comfortable again with the buffet concept, Abrams says.
It’s best to have a pie all to yourself, though. Thin crust has always been, and still is, the way to go. To make sure I always have room for the cracker-thin crust, I’ll sometimes eat a slice from end to beginning, starting with the outer rim.
Toppings are nothing out of the ordinary but are still very good in their familiarity and quality. It’s pizza that reminds you of youth, and maybe that’s why it tastes so good.
Down from hundreds, there are 31 Pizza Inns spread across Texas, in small towns like Hamilton and Winnsboro and big cities like Dallas and Houston. Houston, as a matter of fact, has a whopping two locations. Most stores are franchises. Only two are still corporately owned.
The chain has strong ties to North Texas. Brothers Francis and R.L. Spillman opened the original location in the late ‘50s in Dallas, where the headquarters are still located. At the chain’s peak in popularity in the 1980s, Fort Worth’s famous wrestling family, the Von Erichs, partnered with the restaurant and starred in a series of TV commercials, one of which can be found on YouTube.
Not even the almighty Von Erichs could shield the company from competition, changing tastes, and time. After being purchased by the Pantera Corp. in 1987, it declared bankruptcy two years later. A new company president helped put things back on course in 1990. In 2011, the company launched a fast-casual chain Pie 5; some of those locations have closed, and some have remained open.
“Here, it’s sort of like a shelter from the storm,” says Abrams. “No matter what’s going on in the world or going on with the company, we’re doing OK here. We always have, and I’m sure always will.”
Pizza Inn, 6900 26 Blvd. D, pizzainn.com
