BILLINGS — One man from Iowa is on a mission to visit all 221 Pizza Ranch locations in the United States, and stopped in Billings to mark stops #183 and #184.
For Jason Halkias, the passion for Pizza Ranch first came in 2014 after a past partner enjoyed visiting the restaurant.
"She just happened to be a big Pizza Ranch fanatic in her own right, so I thought maybe we could visit locations in other areas that our friends are from if we had a good reason to," said Halkias.
Ever since then, Halkias's idea to visit all 221 locations was born, and he started his quest officially last year. On his birthday, he hit his 100th location, and for his birthday this year, he hopes to do the same with his 200th.
He is currently on what he calls his "West Coast swing," which includes Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, visiting the Helena and Butte locations before landing at the Billings ones. The King Avenue location marked his 183rd Pizza Ranch location and the Heights location on Main Street his 184th. He has approximately 40 locations left to visit but wants to keep the quest going once new locations open up.
"Considering that it took me about 10 years since the passion started to get to 100 last year, and it wasn't until a friend of mine suggested if I got to all the locations, then I could start visiting the grand openings of new ones and still say I've been to them all,” said Halkias.
So far, he's visited 13 of the 14 states where there are Pizza Ranch locations and hopes to finish his quest by October. He enjoys seeing how each location compares to one another.
“Even though just about every location is similar in some ways, I tend to think that every location is unique in their own way because they're each tied to their own community," said Halkias. "That's what makes each one set out from one another.”
Where one might quickly get sick of eating the same type of food after so many visits, Halkias does not.
"I never get sick of the food," said Halkias. “I change it up a little bit every so often. Sometimes I'll get my coveted stuffed buffalo chicken from the buffet your way. Other times I won't. But usually, I'll get a piece of pizza here, cheese stick there, and the salad, and or a piece of chicken."
For each visit, Halkias wears several pieces of Pizza Ranch merch: a branded hat, a shirt that reads, "The Legendary Pizza Ranch Guest," and a badge with his name on it, gifted to him by a location in Michigan.
Before visiting each location, Halkias usually reaches out to the managers to inform them of his visit. The general manager of the King Ave. location, Sheena Machado, was anticipating his visit, but never would have expected that type of call.
“Never. It's kind of a cool little situation. I didn't think that we'd ever get someone like that here. But I'm excited,” said Machado. "He said that everything was great and he seemed to try several things, so that was really cool."
Back in his home state of Iowa, Halkias is a custodian and wedding DJ and is grateful that his jobs allow him the time for his travels. He plans each visit carefully and keeps track of where he has been. This trip also offers him a chance to see different parts of the country while getting to visit his favorite food spot.
“It's the environment of Pizza Ranch. I just love the environment no matter where I go because the service is awesome, the food's awesome, no matter what you can think of. I mean, I know some people might not find it their type, but I do, and I would never ever wanna go back from that,” said Halkias.
