ON THE MENU — Pizza Inn keeps business in family; plans expansion options
Published 12:36 am Saturday, March 12, 2022
General Manager Jerrod Broussard cuts a breakfast pizza. (Chris Moore/The News)
Two breakfast pizzas are hot out of the oven. (Chris Moore/The News)
A sausage and cheese breakfast pizza gets loaded into the over. (Chris Moore/The News)
Pizza Inn is located at 1501 Magnolia Ave. (Chris Moore/The News)
Workers prepare a breakfast pizza order. (Chris Moore/The News)
A ham and cheese pizza is ready to go. (Chris Moore/The News)
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
PORT NECEHS — For decades, the Broussard name has been synonymous with Pizza Inn.
Donny Broussard opened the location on Magnolia Avenue in 1968. After Broussard’s 2021 death, his grandson Jerrod Broussard wanted to make sure that the family business remained family operated.
Donny Broussard’s wife Irma Broussard still owns the business, but Jerrod handles the day-to-day operations.
“Keeping it in the family was the main reason I came back,” he said. “Everyone is so happy to see the family legacy keep going on.”
Jerrod, who worked for Pizza Inn for 16 years before branching out on his own, said he was hesitant to go back into the restaurant business, but said it felt like a natural fit.
“There was some stuff I had to relearn and some things that had changed since I was last here,” Jerrod said. “Cutting pizzas was all the same, but it was all of the paperwork. Everything is on computers now and I am not real good on computers, but we are getting back into it.”
The family business has allowed the Broussards to watch the community grow.
“I’m seeing people now come in that were little kids when I was here,” Jerrod said. “One of the workers will point and tell me that is so-and-so and I am shocked. I try to talk to everyone but it is just so hard because there is so much to do. Everyone knows me and I will see them in passing and they will say, ‘You’re back?’ And I will tell them yes.”
Jerrod said he is trying to focus on improving the day-to-day operations before he starts making plans for any larger changes. One goal he wants to achieve is a complete a remodel of the location.
“I’m hoping in the next year or maybe two years we can do that,” he said. “There will be some things done by then regardless of if we have it completely remodeled by then.”
He said the remodel will gut the building.
“We want to make it look like their style,” Jerrod said. “With a franchise, you have to do what they say.”
One change that would come with a remodel would be to take the buffet line out of the middle of the restaurant and put it in front of the kitchen so that servers can restock without walking through the eatery.
Breakfast pizzas have been the newest addition to the menu. The items allow pizza lovers to get their fill before lunch with a selection of classic breakfast toppings like eggs, bacon, sausage, ham and even boudin.
“It is really good and a lot of people like it,” Jerrod said.
He added that the boudin and the “All the Way” breakfast pizzas are the most popular.
Pizza Inn is open from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.
