Dennis Johnson is a member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, but had little connection to the reservation nestled in northern Minnesota until the last decade.
At the time working as the chief financial officer (he’s now chief investment officer) of Ho-Chuck Inc., an economic development firm created by the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, Johnson would meet with Native American tribes from around the country when they would fly in to learn about ways to expand economic opportunity.
One of those to fly in was the Red Lake Nation, which Johnson began engaging with and he now travels regularly to the reservation and to a city 35 miles south: Bemidji, Minnesota.
It’s in Bemidji where Johnson is weeks away from opening a new Pizza Ranch restaurant. According to him, Bemidji is, and has been, an ideal spot for the Midwestern brand to expand in.
“Bemidji is a bustling economic town and a hub of activity for north central Minnesota,” Johnson said. “I would be there for business trips and long weekends and ask, ‘why isn’t there a Pizza Ranch here?’”
Founded in Iowa in 1981, Pizza Ranch has 211 locations across 14 states. The brand has been franchising since 1984 and most of its units are in the Dakotas, Iowa and Minnesota.
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Johnson said he’s been an avid Pizza Ranch consumer for decades and he lives in the Sioux City, Iowa, area, just an hour away from the Pizza Ranch corporate headquarters. Those factors, along with the company’s values, influenced his decision to become a franchisee.
“If it was just another company, like a Pizza Hut or Subway, I probably wouldn’t have started it up,” Johnson said. “It’s the fact that I knew it is a Christian company with a high moral value system in place. After I did my discovery day as a franchisee, my wife and I both left there enthused.”
“He understands our purpose and our vision, and is very aligned with what we view as important,” said Mark Souba, Pizza Ranch chief development officer. “He also understands development, and he is very business and finance savvy. He understands the importance of building a great team as well, which he has done for his first project in Bemidji.”
Johnson called the new Bemidji location a “sizable operation.”
“It’s 8,400 square feet including the Pizza Ranch restaurant and FunZone arcade attached,” Johnson said. “It will be a busy location, and when we open, it will have 60 employees on the payroll. That seems like a big number in today’s environment, but we haven’t struggled to hit that number in Bemidji. We’ve had a great response with a lot of interest.”
Buffet concept Pizza Ranch grew sales more than 48 percent last year and jumped to No. 217 on the Franchise Times Top 500.
Johnson also noted the importance of adding another Native American-owned business to the Bemidji community, which has a population of nearly 15,000. According to 2020 Census data, the city’s population is 8.5 percent Native American.
“We’re driving the economy of Bemidji as a consumer, but we haven’t historically been participating as entrepreneurs and in business ownership,” Johnson said. “We’re very proud of putting that forward and being visible that we’re a Native-owned company.”
In addition to the Red Lake Nation, Bemidji is near two other reservations, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and the White Earth Nation. Johnson said as he opens the Pizza Ranch location, he’s also hoping to organize an investment fund that would be used to open more Native-owned businesses in the next several years.
According to a report commissioned by the International Franchise Association, Native Americans represented 0.8 percent of franchised business owners in the United States. In his experience at Pizza Ranch, Souba said Johnson is the first Native American he’s worked with in the franchise system, but noted that diversity in the brand is increasing.
“We are wide open to including people of all races, ethnicities and backgrounds,” Souba said. “Over the last two or three years, I’d say we’ve had many more diverse franchise candidates come talk to us at discovery day and more calling in to inquire about our brand. I think we’re seeing more and more diversity, and we embrace it.”
In Johnson’s case, he’s on his way to becoming a multi-unit operator. His second Pizza Ranch is under construction in Kearney, Nebraska.
“It’s a sizable market,” Johnson said. “We do best in communities like Bemidji and Kearney fits that model. Like Bemidji, it’s the main shopping and medical hub for that area.”
To open a Pizza Ranch, the investment ranges from $1.1 million to $3.9 million.