FOND DU LAC – Fond du Lac doesn’t have too many restaurants on Scott Street, but one was a local staple for 40 years.
PizzaVille opened at 160 W. Scott St. in 1977, taking up what used to be a Pizza Hut. At first, it built a reputation as a top restaurant and pizza delivery service in the area, but it eventually grew beyond pizza to a full-service restaurant with a buffet.
Don and Donna Jacques owned the business for many years, earning word-of-mouth reputation for the quality of their pizza, including a sauce only Don Jacques knew the recipe to for as long as he owned the space. When the menu expanded, popular items in addition to the pizza included homemade meatloaf, broasted chicken and a fish fry.
Owning a restaurant had been Don Jacques’ dream, but for several years before PizzaVille, he was known in the community as a member of four-piece band “Sounds of Music.”
By 1992, the restaurant would serve about 2,800 customers on any given weekend in the dining room, all of whom enjoyed homestyle meals in the space designed to be cozy and warm.
Another 1,600 customers typically ordered delivery at the same time — PizzaVille owned a fleet of trucks instead of requiring delivery drivers to use their own vehicles. Five trucks usually ran non-stop each weekend, with three needed on weekdays.
The Jacques’s children were involved in the family business. They opened TCBY (The Country’s Best Yogurt) up the road in 1989, and two of their daughters, Dawn Smet and Danielle Jacques, became the managers. Their son Doug took on PizzaVille sometime after.
In 2015, ownership changed to Samantha Roberts, who focused on not changing any recipes, but added items like calzones and stuffed crust pizza. She also wanted to make sure customers could get a new experience at each visit with rotating buffet items.
PizzaVille closed quietly by 2017, after which several businesses moved in and out in the past eight years.
Paddy’s Pizza North was the first in 2018, a second location to Paddy’s Pizza in Eden. Bench Warmers Bar & Grill was next in 2020, followed by Katrina Grill and Capone’s. Now, the building is occupied by Colombian restaurant Hys Sazon Colombiano.
More Fond du Lac-area history: It happened this week
“Remember when …” is a bi-weekly column from Streetwise Reporter Daphne Lemke that looks back at businesses of Fond du Lac’s storied past. Tell her what you’d like to see next by emailing dlemke@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Fond du Lac Reporter: PizzaVille was known in Fond du Lac for homemade meals and delivery
Reporting by Daphne Lemke, Fond du Lac Reporter / Fond du Lac Reporter
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