Ellington

The Pizza Shack knows what its customers want: thinner crust, two layers of cheese and an avalanche of toppings pushed to the crust's brim.

The founders, Ryan Patrick and couple Michael Parker and Larry Emmett, met at a now-closed local pizza restaurant. Believing they could do a better job at running their own pizza place, the three took a $40,000 investment and opened the first The Pizza Shack on North State Street in 2005.

It was a three-man operation at first: Patrick, Parker and Emmett. Selling pizza by the slice was part of the plan until the pizza warmer broke on the first day.

They served a handful of customers on that day. A few more came on day two. By the third day, a line of patrons stretched out the door.

The Pizza Shack now has 52 employees and locations in Jackson (925 E. Fortification St., 601-352-2001), Byram (114 Byram Business Center Drive, Byram, 769-233-8875) and Madison (219 Garden Park Drive, Madison, 601-856-8600). In addition to pizza, the menu includes salads, sandwiches, wings and beer.

"It's kind of gone beyond anything we imagined," Patrick says.

Parker, an Orange County, Calif., native, has taken a lesser role in the company's day-to-day operations since Emmett passed away from cancer in 2012. At Parker's side, Emmett helped instill The Pizza Shack's communal ethos in the early years.

"I was only 20 at the time we started The Pizza Shack," Patrick says. "Michael and Larry taught me how to put love into the company. To love without getting anything in return."

The Pizza Shack in Byram opened in March, and the store hopes to grow alongside the town, which was incorporated in 2009. Local artist Emily Sabree painted images of fresh bread, cheeses, meats and vegetables on the wooden panels along the walls.

Front-of-house manager Tiffaney Reynolds sees a similar loyal customer base building in Byram as it did at the Old Canton location (it closed recently), where she worked for a year as a cashier and two years as a server. "People are already coming in with a menu, everything crossed out that they have tried," Reynolds says. "They are looking to cross the whole menu off."

The sign outside The Pizza Shack's newest and largest storefront in Madison, where Patrick is overseeing the training of 15 new employees, reads: "Be patient. We are learning to serve you better." Converted from an old Lenny's Sub Shop, the store opened in early June.

"Each location is supposed to be a little different, to take on characteristics of their communities," Patrick says. Chalk-drawn artwork from Mississippi College student Wood Dabbs adorns the walls: strawberries, a train and a water tower. A foosball table sits in a corner.

The Pizza Shack encourages employees to cultivate their own dishes, with the best culinary byproducts finding their way onto the menu.

Andy Lampkin, a former cashier and cook at the Fortification store, conceived Andy's Buffalo Chicken, Hollins' favorite. The bosses understand what cooks, cashiers and dishwashers want because they were once in their same positions.

Discussions for future The Pizza Shacks are ongoing. For Patrick, who says his favorite part of the pizza business is still "slinging around the dough," handing the ambitions of expansion to others within The Pizza Shack family is good.

"That's where I want to be, to see people ... get where we are," he says.

For more information, visit pizzashack.ms.