Pizza Ranch is officially opened for to public on Wednesday. The new restaurant is located at 912 N Dakota St, across from Coyote Village and the DakotaDome. The buffet-style restaurant began to serve Vermillion and the surrounding area on April 15 with a soft open phase.
Collin Lind, General Manager and Co-Owner, has been trying to open a Pizza Ranch in Vermillion for around three years.
“We bought the property a year ago and since then construction and corporate were able to piece it all together, including the hiring process which took a couple of months,” Lind said.
Brian Tooker, c0-owner, said Pizza Ranch aims to support for the community.
“The Vermillion community is prosperous, strong and vibrant. We hope to entrench in the community and support the high school, churches and USD,” Tooker said.
The Vermillion Pizza Ranch will not only have their signature buffet, but it will also have a delivery service, catering and a full liquor license. They bought Maya Jane’s liquor license earlier in the year.
“Somebody in town had multiple liquor licenses they were willing to sell. We will be serving beer and drinks in the bar next door during the next phase of our opening. We will serve Pizza Ranch pizza and chicken along with adult beverages inside,” Tooker said.
The Vermillion Area Chamber and Development Company hosted the ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 10.
The event began with a chamber meeting and the UpNEXT Vermillion’s Coffee Hour podcast, which features new businesses in Vermillion every week. It is designed to showcase what is happening around Vermillion and introduce new places and people to the community. UpNext episodes occur every Wednesday morning from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Guests were then able to enjoy their choice of blueberry, apple, cherry and peach dessert pizzas and cactus bread following the ribbon cutting.
Planning for the ribbon cutting began roughly a month ago.
“Pizza Ranch has been on our radar for about a year and the facilitating and planning for the planning began a month or so ago,” said Katherine Heine, Director of Chamber of Commerce.
The goal of the ribbon cutting was to coordinate it with an UpNEXT Coffee Hour podcast episode which occurs every Wednesday and highlights Vermillion businesses.
“The owners wanted to coordinate the opening with an UpNEXT episode, and because the soft opening stage begins next Wednesday and Thursday, we thought this Wednesday would be perfect,” Heine said.
The new Pizza Ranch will add variety to Vermillion for students to eat in and because of its location across from Coyote Village and the Dome, its walking distance from campus will attract students.
“I’m excited to eat their fried chicken because it looks really good and it will add variety and bring more jobs for students which is really nice. It’s something new to try out with my friends and its close to campus which is exciting,” Jacob Won, first-year economy major said.
