When I bumped into my friend John Richardson last week, he was wearing a ratty T-shirt and paint-streaked shorts. I wasn’t surprised by his attire because it’s basically the same thing he was wearing every other time I bumped into him over the past 30-something years. On this occasion, however, his worked-over wardrobe was particularly appropriate. I discovered he and his business partner Richard Higginson are in the final, sawdust-strewn stages of opening a brand new small business.

When it opens next week, Richardson and Higginson will join a daring band of businesspeople whose vision and determination over the past two and half centuries has been vital to the success of nothing less than the American Dream. The two Bountiful men will officially become entrepreneurs when they open the doors of the new Pizza Pie Cafe at 11 a.m. on Monday September 10, at 370 W. 500 South in Bountiful. 

The buffet-style restaurant will offer pizza, pasta, salad, dessert, and beverage bars. It will be the seventh Pizza Pie Cafe franchise to open in Utah and Idaho, and will seat approximately 200 customers. It will cater well to family and large-group dining. Richardson and Higginson have already reached out to local high schools and little leagues with special offers for athletic teams. 

They intend to use a variety of social media and other methods to attract diners to their new, strictly casual dining venture, which means my pizza-tossing friend may not need to change out of his T-shirt and shorts just yet. 

For more information check out the Sept.6 edition of Davis Clipper.