Pizza Ranch is on its way to Quincy; will locate at former County Market site at 48th and Broadway

QUINCY — Brandon Pratt found out he couldn’t keep the lid on the news of what he plans to bring to Quincy.

Pratt, who is the founder of Lion Development Group and owner of Gravy Train Restaurant Management, will open a Pizza Ranch franchise at 48th and Broadway, at the site of the former County Market.

Pratt said the decision to open in Quincy was driven by local demand and demographics.

“I haven’t actually experienced any sort of momentum like that,” Pratt said in an interview on July 1. “Usually, we do a press release and we get a little bit of excitement, but the fact that somebody found it, through an indeed ad, and then it spread through just a couple media sources.

“And, I mean, we’ve had people reaching out to us about strategic partnerships already. We haven’t even started construction yet. I mean, we were probably two months away from when we normally announce that we’re even coming. But the excitement is real, and that’s why we’re here.”

Pizza Ranch is a buffet-style restaurant that will span approximately 15,000 square feet, featuring 300 seats and a 106-player FunZone arcade, making it one of the largest Pizza Ranch locations. Pratt’s company, based out of North Liberty, Iowa, already operates 11 Pizza Ranch locations, including ones in Springfield and Galesburg. He aims to start construction within three weeks and hopes to open in either late fourth quarter 2025 or first quarter of 2026.

“We’ll have about 80 games, all state-of-the-art,” Pratt said. “Think big LED screens and virtual reality roller coasters.”

He said he had been looking at opening a spot in Quincy for years, but couldn’t find the proper fit. He said the Broadway location and working with Niemann Foods made this the right move.

“Pizza Ranch has approximately 225 locations in 13 states,” Pratt said. “This will be the second biggest arcade in the entire chain, which is exciting. It will be on the high side, I would probably say in the top five for overall square footage, 15,000 square foot Pizza Ranches are not the norm. They’re usually in that 7500 to 9000 square feet. But we worked with the Niemann’s in this property to secure something that I think we can do special for Quincy.

“I know when the Niemann’s closed this grocery store, they said they wanted to look for a different concept. They wanted to be very careful, and I know they were pretty selective on who they brought in. There was a lot of synergy. In fact, when we met, initially, they felt like it was a great partnership. We felt like it was a great partnership, and we really hit the ground running. I mean, again, a 15,000 square foot facility on Broadway is not easy to come by. And so they were looking for the right tenant, and I think they found it in us.”

Pratt said Pizza Ranch will have a full-time local management team and employee between 60 and 80 people.

“We are a small business, family company,” he said. “We operate in many towns like Quincy and we want to be a part of the community.”

You can see how the Quincy Pizza Ranch process unfolds by going to their Facebook page, facebook.com/PizzaRanchQuincy.