History of Alexander’s Pizza
Founded in 1972
Alexander’s Pizza was founded by Dean Crist. Dean had worked in the Minocqua area as a camp counselor since 1968, and to supplement his camp counselor salary, he would “bootleg” pizzas back to the campers in the middle of the night. These bootlegged pizzas were frozen pizzas, which were cooked in a little bar in Minocqua called The Annex. After graduating from college in 1971 Dean decided to become an entrepreneur and open a Pizza Parlor in Minocqua.
In the spring of 1972, he rented a vacant building located at 519 Oneida Ave, Downtown Minocqua. The location had been an historic old Minocqua main street tavern since 1912, but was vacant in 1972 because the location had lost its liquor license.
Although he had no restaurant experience, and running a Pizzeria was not what he had trained for in college, after some minor modifications of the old tavern, and a lot of trials and tribulations about running a restaurant, Alexander’s Pizza began it’s hectic first summer in business. Through luck and perseverance, Alexander’s Pizza made it through its first summer.
During the winter/spring of 1972-73, he remodeled the old bar and put in picnic tables for more seating capacity, but by 1978, it was obvious that Alexander’s had to expand, and the vacant Aqua Theater building on Front Street was purchased; which is where Alexander’s is now located.
The move to the old Aqua Theater required extensive remodeling of the old building, but the move to the larger location has worked out well for Alexander’s Pizza, and the business has now done well in Minocqua for over 50 years.
Why it is called Alexander’s
Dean Crist’s uncle was a broker for paper and plastic products in the Chicago area, and when Dean decided to open his pizza parlor, as luck would have it, his uncle had been stuck with over 50 cases of special print pizza bags — and the name on the bags was Alexander’s Pizza. So, feeling no need to name the pizzeria after himself, and more importantly for the use of over 50 cases of free carry out pizza bags, he decided to call it Alexander’s Pizza.
Since Alexander’s first opened on June 22, 1972, we have only used the highest quality natural ingredients for making the finest quality pizzas possible; we have never skimped on buying the best quality for the ingredients used in making our pizzas; we have served generations of satisfied return customers; and Alexander’s has been named the top pizza restaurant in the area by a UW consumer survey. For all that, Alexander's would like to thank all of you, who have made us who we are today.
The best pizza north of Chicago!