Happy Joe's
 | |
| privately held company | |
| Industry | Restaurant |
| Founded | Bettendorf, Iowa (1972) |
| Founder | Lawrence Joseph "Happy Joe" Whitty |
| Headquarters | Bettendorf, Iowa, U.S. |
Number of locations | 48 stores (2011) |
| Products |
Italian-American cuisine pizza · pasta · desserts |
| Website |
www |
Happy Joe's Pizza & Ice Cream Parlor is an American pizza parlor chain based in Bettendorf, Iowa. The restaurant chain was founded in 1972 by "Happy Joe" Whitty, a former Shakey's Pizza manager. Its 61 restaurants are located in the Midwestern United States (in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin).
Happy Joe's claims to be the first pizza restaurant to offer a taco pizza (a pizza with refried bean/tomato sauce, cheese, lettuce, tomato and taco chips). After a franchisee suggested adding tacos to the menu, Whitty invented the restaurant's best-selling product, the Taco Pizza.[1]
The Happy Joe's location on Gilbert Street in Iowa City, Iowa was destroyed by a tornado on April 13, 2006, part of the Easter Week 2006 Tornado Outbreak Sequence.[2]