America's First Pizza Chain Is Still Serving Pies Decades Later

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From big-name chains to small mom-and-pop shops, there are thousands of pizza restaurants in the United States. It's natural to assume that a household name like Domino's or Pizza Hut was the first chain to establish itself in the country — after all, fast food chains like these make up over 50% of the pizza market. America's first pizza chain, however, is one you may have never even heard of before. Still operational today, Shakey's Pizza holds the title of America's first pizza chain.

Founded in 1954 by Sherwood "Shakey" Johnson and business partner Ed Plummer, the first Shakey's Pizza Parlor opened in Sacramento, California, on 57th and J Street. The name "Shakey's" has a backstory — Johnson was nicknamed "Shakey" due to the tremors he experienced during his military days. The founders envisioned a laid-back place where friends could socialize over pizza, beer, and live music.

If you walked into some of the first locations, you would have seen employees dressed in striped shirts with bow ties and foam "straw" hats. There was often jazz music playing, and Reddit users on the r/Nostalgia subthread remember the occasional banjo player, "mildly sticky" checkered tablecloths, and Atari's Pong video game playing on a wall projector. The restaurant had a casual, pub-like atmosphere, which caused it to gain notoriety as an affordable hangout spot. By the 1960s, Shakey's expanded rapidly across the U.S. with hundreds of locations. The pizza chain then went international, opening locations in Canada, the Philippines, Japan, and Mexico, popularizing pizza as a mainstream American food.

If it was such a hit in the late 20th century, why is Shakey's Pizza one of the pizza chains disappearing across America? Today, the chain has a smaller footprint in the United States, with most of its remaining 60 U.S. locations found in Southern California. While the brand doesn't have the prominence it once did stateside, Shakey's remains popular in the Philippines, where there are over 300 locations.

The menu at modern-day Shakey's still features its signature thin-crust pizza, a highlight since the chain opened. The chain's pizza varieties include garden veggie, rustic garlic chicken, and Texas BBQ chicken, plus the option to create your own pie. Shakey's is also known for serving seasoned and battered potato slices called Mojo Potatoes, as well as its 11 am to 2 pm lunch buffet, and 2 to 5 pm happy hour.

As a now-smaller U.S. chain, Shakey's didn't make our list of best and worst pizza chains, and ratings for Shakey's on Yelp and TripAdvisor vary. Many locations average between 3 and 4 stars on TripAdvisor and Yelp, respectively. Reddit users describe the pizza quality as being okay to bad, and the chicken and Mojo Potatoes as decent. With those lackluster sentiments, it's unlikely that the brand will be one of the pizza chains making a comeback anytime soon.