Aug 4, 2026 · 59 min · 11 segments
John Milliard ran the toaster at Pappy's Pizza & Subs when he was just 12 years old. Over three decades later, he owns the place -- and he's carrying forward the legacy of the man who mentored him…
John MilliardGuest
Carol EricksonHost
Walk me through, what is a first-time customer walking in the front door? What do they experience when they walk into Pappy's?
They experience, I'm going to say, Pappy's 2.0. Because you can have a new customer who's never been in the Pappy's and says, wow, why haven't I ever come in here before? And when they leave, they leave with a...
with a positive experience, with happiness, with that happy Pappy experience, and they come back.
And then you have people who come in and it's Pappy's 2.0, but 1.0 is still there.
The dining room, the nostalgia, the reflection, the same seats and tables and everything.
I mean, you kept it so that the 1.0s, you can still go in and you can see that, but yet you upgraded.
If they wanted to show up in their pajamas, they could hang out and have fun, play free video games.
The demographic is very value conscious, and I'm trying to deliver, you know, despite the challenging times most business owners are experiencing with rising, you know, food and labor costs, is to maximize the value for the family and just to to deliver joy for them to escape the everyday and a casual environment and be served with happiness.
And sometimes we need those gentle reminders to, To say, yeah, I'm leaving happier.
Walk me through, what is a first-time customer walking in the front door? What do they experience when they walk into Pappy's?
They experience, I'm going to say, Pappy's 2.0. Because you can have a new customer who's never been in the Pappy's and says, wow, why haven't I ever come in here before? And when they leave, they leave with a...
with a positive experience, with happiness, with that happy Pappy experience, and they come back.
And then you have people who come in and it's Pappy's 2.0, but 1.0 is still there.
The dining room, the nostalgia, the reflection, the same seats and tables and everything.
I mean, you kept it so that the 1.0s, you can still go in and you can see that, but yet you upgraded.
If they wanted to show up in their pajamas, they could hang out and have fun, play free video games.
The demographic is very value conscious, and I'm trying to deliver, you know, despite the challenging times most business owners are experiencing with rising, you know, food and labor costs, is to maximize the value for the family and just to to deliver joy for them to escape the everyday and a casual environment and be served with happiness.
And sometimes we need those gentle reminders to, To say, yeah, I'm leaving happier.
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