Johnny's Pizza founder dies

Johnny Huntsman, a legendary entrepreneur who founded the Johnny's Pizza chain 50 years ago, died this morning in Oak Grove after a long illness. He was 77.

The funeral is scheduled at 2 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church of Oak Grove under direction of Cox Funeral Home. Visitation is noon until time of service at the church.

Huntsman, who opened his first store in Monroe in 1967 across from the University of Louisiana at Monroe, eventually opened restaurants throughout Louisiana and other states.

Huntsman learned to make pizza as a student at Graceland University in Lemoni, Iowa, for a part-time job at a restaurant.

"All of this time I was making pizzas for my friends and at parties," Huntsman said in a 2011 interview with USA Today Network. "One day, I was driving by (ULM) and I saw a sign that this building was for rent. It had been Flynn's Grill."

It soon would become the first Johnny's Pizza.

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"I'd never even seen a pizza before I went to college," Huntsman said. "Now I was going into the restaurant business making them."

Huntsman is survived by his wife Sharon and children John Huntsman Jr., Marian Archibald and Heather Huntsman. He was preceded in death by daughter Lacey Huntsman.

He said many people in Louisiana had never seen a pizza before he opened Johnny's.

"The most difficult part of the business was creating an awareness about pizza," Johnny said.

Then Shaky's Pizza Parlor, a national chain, built a restaurant in the Monroe market.

"I thought they were going to roll over me like a bug. But what they did was create an awareness for pizza that I never could have done. They were able to do real advertising — newspaper and TV and radio. All I had was a kid wearing a sandwich sign and ringing a bell who I paid in pizza," Hunstman said.

He kept trying new ways to pique customers' interest. "The only thing anyone remembers that first year is our slogan, 'The only link in the world's smallest pizza chain.'"

He expanded too soon in the 1980s and eventually filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

"The phone had stopped ringing, and I had no money for advertising," Huntsman said. "I was laying in bed one night trying to figure out what to do. So I decided to have a little fun with it.

"I went to a hardware store and bought a big plastic barrel. It cost me $9. I'll never forget that. I made up a sign, got some suspenders and hung the barrel on me. I just had on jogging shorts underneath. I stood on the corner of Forsythe and 18th streets from 3 (p.m.) to dark."

And the brand began building again.

Huntsman was honored as the Small Business Person of the Year in Louisiana in 1992 and earned a ULM Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006, among many other honors.

He continued to be the face of the company even after it became employee-owned.

"To us old-timers, who started out as kids under his tutelage, we think of Johnny as a father figure," said Melvin DeLacerda, president and chief executive of the company now. "He taught us how to put our customers first, how to give back to our communities and even how to get along with one another. We are all deeply saddened by the loss."