Tom Sacco’s Journey: Passion, Leadership, and the Rise of Happy Joe’s
At the heart of every remarkable journey is a passion that fuels the drive to succeed. Today, we bring you an inspiring story of Tom Sacco, a visionary leader whose path has been shaped by family, determination, and an unyielding love for the restaurant industry. From humble beginnings in Niagara Falls, NY, to leading one of the most beloved pizza and ice cream brands in America, Tom's journey is filled with lessons in perseverance, passion, and the power of following your heart.
In this article, we explore how Tom’s early experiences working in his grandparents' restaurant ignited a lifelong commitment to hospitality. We’ll take you through the milestones of his career, from shifting his career focus from law to the restaurant business, to becoming the driving force behind Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream’s success and global expansion. His story is a testament to the importance of passion, teamwork, and innovation in building a thriving business in today’s competitive market.
Prepare to be inspired as we uncover Tom’s unique approach to leadership, his unwavering commitment to creating memorable experiences for families, and his exciting vision for the future of Happy Joe’s. This is not just the story of a successful business leader; it’s the journey of a man who has followed his passion and turned it into a legacy.
Early Life and Foundation
Can you share a bit about your early life and education?
I was the oldest of four children born in Niagara Falls, NY. We lived in a home with my paternal grandparents, Tony and Angeline Sacco, my parents, Tom and Theresa Sacco, and my younger siblings Angela, Ross, and Kevin Sacco. I went to elementary school at St. Joseph’s, middle school at St. Ann’s, high school at NFCVI, undergraduate at Niagara University, and graduate school at McMaster University.
I worked in my grandparents' restaurant, mostly in the kitchen with my grandfather, where my love of the restaurant business started from the passion that I saw and felt from shared discussions with my grandparents about their business, their staff, their guests, and their vendors.
I lived in Niagara Falls with my family until I got married in 1977. Since 1977, my wife Gwen, who has been the bedrock upon which our wonderful and loving family has grown, provided me with the emotional and physical support that I leaned into to build my successful restaurant career.
Gwen and I have lived in two countries (USA and Canada), four Canadian provinces, and five U.S. states on this journey of passion and service. Without my wife Gwendolyn, I know that I could never have been able to accomplish and achieve what I have, and as great as my career has been, the true highlight has been, and will always be, our four great, loving, children, Briana, Tommy, Brittany, and Natalie.
Discovering a Passion for Restaurants
What led you to your current profession or field of expertise?
I was originally going to school to be an astronaut, but since that was not a popular core curriculum when I was going to school back in the 1960’s and 70’s. I drifted into accounting and finance because I was very strong with numbers, So, I focused on being a tax attorney because my parents thought I would be a very good lawyer. As life would have it, my grandparents were restaurant owners, my Dad was a retail convenience store owner, and my Mom was an owner of a hair salon and a Hairdresser.
As mentioned above, I worked with my grandfather and grandmother for quite a few summers in their restaurant. Working shoulder-to-shoulder with my grandfather, as he shared his life stories with me, I slowly and organically fell in love with the restaurant business, and how my grandfather romanticized how important exceeding his guests’ expectations were. When my boredom at law school overtook me, I dropped out and decided to start my career by doing what I loved, becoming a restaurant operator, and I have never looked back.
One piece of advice that I would share with any young adult trying to decide on a career path is do what you love! If you follow your heart, you will never be disappointed with the journey. I followed my heart, and I would never have guessed that the restaurant business would have taken me so far and made me so proud!
Building Happy Joe’s: A Family-Centered Business
Tell us about your business and its market presence
Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream is in the business of selling unique pizzas and ice cream creations primarily, but we sell other complimentary items as well. I have been rewarded to be a leader of one of the most innovative and family-centric restaurant organizations in the world. Our company, as of this writing, is 52 years old. We are headquartered in Iowa, in the central part of the USA. We are a very dominant brand in Midwestern America, and we are aggressively expanding into the southern states across the USA.
The familiarity of our brand, along with the strategic focus of our family-focused, child-friendly, concept, has put us in an uncommon position that we alone fill. We are also expanding very rapidly internationally with 6 open restaurants in Egypt over the past two years, with many more to come. We are currently looking for new Happy Joe’s locations in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the U.A.E.
Expanding the Happy Joe’s Legacy
What growth and expansion plans do you have in the pipeline?
From a growth and expansion standpoint, Happy Joe’s has 52 open and operating locations systemwide. In addition, we currently have 44 newly signed and paid franchise agreements under contract with specific development schedules. 28 of them are in the USA and the remaining 16 are international. If we continue to sign franchisees with development schedules, as we have this year, I expect to have 100+ Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream restaurants open by the end of calendar 2027, and more than 250 Happy Joe’s worldwide by 2030. We hope to begin expansion into Europe, Asia, and South America in the next few years to accomplish our goal of achieving 50 international and 200 domestic locations by 2030.
Celebrating Success: A Record Year for Happy Joe’s
How has the year been for your company?
This has been the best year for Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream in over 25 years. We have signed 16 of the 28 new US franchise agreements since January 2024. We are expecting to sign another one, or two, multi-unit franchise development agreements before the end of this calendar year that should lift our signed, paid, development scheduled new franchise locations to a total of 50+. Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream will also open four new restaurants beginning with, one in Florida, one in North Dakota, one in Arizona, and finally one in Illinois, before the end of this calendar year, which will set-up 2025 to be another banner year for Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream.
Standing Out in a Competitive Market
What makes your business stand out in today’s competitive market?
The greatest attributes that drive Happy Joe’s business, both in good times and in bad regardless of competition, is first, the emotional connection that Happy Joe’s makes with our guests, specifically with the children, and second, the uniqueness of Happy Joe’s pizza flavors and offerings.
As for the first characteristic, Happy Joe’s has created and continues to create magical memories for our child guests that last them a lifetime. We have three and four generations of families that have dined with us for decades. As for the second characteristic, we are the originator of the Taco Pizza, and have strategically focused on creating, iconic, memorable pizzas, such as our: Breakfast pizzas, Dessert pizzas, Mexican themed pizzas, and Specialty pizzas that incorporate “Comfort food” toppings, along with our over-the-top, ice cream-based creations.
Leading with a Servant’s Heart
What strategies do you recommend for building effective teamwork and unity?
In my professional opinion, the best strategy to build an effective team that works together in unity is to lead with a Servant’s Heart. When you lead with a Servant’s Heart, leadership’s role is to eliminate any, and all, roadblocks that can create challenges, difficulties, problems, and conflicts for your guests, team members, stakeholders, and vendors, and to support, guide, assist, direct, and help. If you eliminate as many of those issues as possible and provide the support and help to the collective team (your guests, staff, stakeholders, and vendors) they will be much more effective, happy, hardworking, and will operate in a cohesive and unified manner.
Driving Innovation Through Research
How does your company focus on and invest in research and innovation?
As a medium-sized company, creativity and innovation has been part of our DNA since Day One. Currently we watch dining trends, attend industry conferences, but most importantly, we have a PIC (Product Innovation Committee) that takes our leadership ideations and puts them into recipes with policies and procedures that we can test in our Happy Joe’s corporately owned restaurants. This process has proven to be very successful, as we have won multiple menu innovation awards from a variety of pizza industry publications for our highly acclaimed, incredible tasting, profit generating menu items. More importantly than the awards, the new menu items have become big-time fan favorites and high sales generators from our guest’s purchases.
Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
Do you have any advice for startups looking to follow a similar path?
This is the most difficult question proposed because 50+ years ago the pizza industry was in an infancy stage and so different than it is today. However, today our industry is in a very mature stage, and many recent, well-financed, successful looking start-ups, have failed. So, I am going to suggest a more ideological path for a start-up today. Identify an open niche, or an underserved segment within a larger category, or a new category within our industry.
Then create products in a service model that you can be extremely passionate about leading with a Servant’s Heart. Passion will overcome so many obstacles. But whatever your passion is, please commit to excellence, be it in quality, in service, in performance, in product offerings, etc., because excellence will always trump inferior quality, cheaper products, poor service, and improperly planned operations.
Final Thoughts
As we reflect on Tom Sacco’s journey, it’s clear that his story is one of leading with a Servant’s Heart, and of dedication, passion, and unwavering commitment to excellence. From his early days working alongside his grandparents in their restaurant to now leading Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream into a new era of global growth and innovation, Tom’s path has been driven by his love for the industry and for the people within it.
His leadership style, rooted in the values of service and teamwork, has not only shaped the success of his business, but has also created lasting, meaningful connections with guests, employees, and communities alike. Through his relentless pursuit of innovation and his commitment to creating joyful, memorable experiences for families, Tom continues to leave an indelible mark on the restaurant world.
As Happy Joe’s looks toward their exciting future with ambitious expansion plans, Tom’s legacy of passion, creativity, and servant leadership will undoubtedly continue to inspire both the next generation of entrepreneurs and the loyal families who have made Happy Joe’s a beloved institution for over five decades. His journey reminds all of us about the importance of following our hearts, embracing challenges, and striving for excellence in everything we do.
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