BROOKINGS – Work to convert a recently constructed building into a new Pizza Ranch will be underway in February 2021 at the same site on Sixth Street in Brookings that the old restaurant occupied.

The new restaurant is owned by the husband-and-wife team of Bret and Kara Henning of Brookings and Ross Olson, owner of a Pizza Ranch in Watertown. Kara Henning will be general manager of the Brookings restaurant. 

“Looking to start construction in early February 2021,” she said. “We’re hoping to be open early summer – May or June.” Clark Drew Construction is the builder.

Henning noted that those customers who liked the “old Pizza Ranch will like the new style even better. It’s a more comfortable environment, a cleaner environment, clean lines. We also added a lot of colors to appeal to kids and families. It’ll be more colorful than your traditional Pizza Ranch.”

“There’s a new corporate style that they have out,” she explained. “The Pizza Ranch on 41st Street in Sioux Falls, they have the new style. We’ll have that.

“There will be dine-in, carry-out; we will have curbside carry-out now, with COVID going on.”

Add to those services delivery, catering, a party room and a FunZone Arcade, an area of about 1,500 square feet offering a variety of arcade games. The total size will be 7,280 square feet plus a patio.

Of course, the big draw that brings diners to Pizza Ranch will be here: the all-you-can-eat buffet headlined by pizza and fried chicken.

As to job opportunities, Henning said, “Starting out it will be a little heavier than we will have later on. Toward the end of next year (2021) it will probably be around 35.”

Pizza Ranch opened its first restaurant in Hull, Iowa, in 1981 and is now headquartered in Orange City, Iowa. The franchise numbers more than 200 restaurants in 13 states, many of them in the Midwest. South Dakota has about 20 Pizza Ranch restaurants.

Contact John Kubal at jkubal@brookingsregister.com.