Saturday, February 23, 2008

Our Lady of Pizza: Tina Dickson @ Ingleside Village Pizza

"I'm just a squirrel saving my nuts," Tina Dickson

Though dreams of escape are the norm in most small towns, in Macon the desire to bolt from the bubble seems even greater. It feels like a black hole dragging its children backward all over the world on the inevitable way back home. Some blame a Creek Indian curse.

Sitting in her restaurant, Ingleside Village Pizza, Tina Dickson doesn’t mention any of that. She just talks, smiling to punctuate the end of stories, glowing as she does like the many-splendored lights that hang from the exposed ceiling and homemade wall mounts for kooky table lamps. Even so, there’s no doubt she understands the black hole thing real well. In fact, it’s how she became “Our Lady of Pizza”.

Raised in Macon, Tina chased Atlanta’s siren song, shuffling off to GSU for a degree in Hotel, Restaurant and Travel Administration. “I always knew I wanted to work in restaurants, but I didn’t want to own. I thought I’d just climb the ladder somewhere, become an executive or something like that.” Legitimized, Tina set out to climb that ladder and become an executive… or something like that.

The only company that was hiring was a big franchisee of Domino’s in Atlanta. So, her first rung was the assistant managership of a store where she dabbled in all the wonderful roles available in corporate pizza delivery. Well, except for the actual delivery. “I was never good at that,” she says. “The 30 minute limit was too much pressure.” But still she was on her way. Her boss sold his stores back to corporate in 1989 after what Tina ominously refers to as “The Noid Incident”. (Seriously, she leaned in and whispered with a low growl “The Noid Incident”. It was creepy.)

For those with limited late-80s pop culture consciousness, the Noid was a chronically crossed-eyed and bone-deep evil character decked out in a red, hooded unitard with what appeared to be bunny ears. His sole goal was to ruin pizzas, which he did with crazed aplomb, like Anton Chigurh. Naturally, Domino’s cautioned the public to “Avoid the Noid!” Unfortunately, an Atlanta man, Kenneth Noid, thought it was an orchestrated attack on him. So he took an area store siege, holding employees hostage and demanding $100,000, a pizza and a copy of “The Widow’s Son”. The Noid, henceforth, disappeared.

Tina was promoted to supervisor, overseeing nine stores in Little Rock, AR. That unfortunately coincided with Domino’s founder Tom Monaghan having a religious awakening, leaving to do missionary work. (What would you expect from a guy who titled his autobiography “Pizza Tiger”?) The company sold off several stores and shipped Tina off to Louisville, KY, where she’d rinse and repeat in just six months. This time, she was offered a demotion. Instead, she decided to—you guessed it!—move back to Macon.

Her sister knew the sister of the guy that was running Sammy Café Nouvelle—Michael Keen. She worked there for six months before it closed, following Michael to Victorian Village, which also soon closed. Tina then worked upstairs at Rivalry’s On Cherry before joining the staff at The Rookery. (While at Rivalry’s, she met Trevor, her future husband. He came up to see about putting his motorcycle helmet behind her bar and then asked, “So when are we getting married?” Tina answered, “When are you available?”)

The pointless job cycle provoked her and roommate Saralyn Harvey. “We both got tired of working for people who didn’t know what they were doing,” Tina says. “What Macon didn’t have and desperately needed was good pizza. We decided we could do it. That was Super Bowl Sunday.”

Together they opened Ingleside Village Pizza on July 28, 1992. Two little boys, Adam and Josey, circled the parking lot on their bikes, waiting to be the first customers. When the clock struck noon, IVP was packed. It’s been that way since.

In the spring of 1995, Tina bought out Saralyn, who now owns Good to Go. And Tina was pregnant with daughter Eliza. Despite that tough stretch, which she now describes as a long blur, she pulled it off. More challenges came and others will, but Tina and IVP sally forth. Without a hint of sarcasm or false modesty—just the sweetness of 100% real cheese—Tina says, “I’m the luckiest person I know.” The closer the first IVP franchise gets to opening and the longer the original stays open, the luckier Macon gets.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice brief and this mail helped me alot in my college assignement. Gratefulness you on your information.

Anonymous said...

I do consіder all the concepts you hаve introduced
in youг post. Tɦey arе very convincing and wіll dеfinitely ԝork.
Stіll, tɦe posts аre ѵery short for beginners.
Сould уօu pleаse lengthen them ɑ little fгom subsequent time?Тhank you for the
post.

Аlso visit mƴ website - muscle alpha fuel x (http://snowboardaddicts.com/member.php?567991-L0797)

Anonymous said...

Hi there colleagues, its great post regarding tutoringand fully defined,
keep it up all the time.

Look at my blog :: south beach diet

Anonymous said...

You actually make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this topic to be actually something which I think I would never understand.
It seems too complicated and very broad for me. I'm looking forward
for your next post, I'll try to get the hang of it!

My webpage: Chemist Direct Healthcare Products

Anonymous said...

Sipping good alkaline water will place your alkalizing efforts method prior to the game.

Go, this really is part of the diabetes diet!
Sugar can be used for generating power by the body tissues.


my website diabetic recipes

Anonymous said...

wonderful post, very informative. I ponder why the opposite experts of this sector do not realize this.

You should continue your writing. I'm confident, you've
a huge readers' base already!

Also visit my homepage - using a pill to help with baldness

Anonymous said...

Hey I know this is ooff topic but I was wondering if you knew oof any widgets I could add to my blog that automatically tweet my newest twitter updates.
I've been looking for a plug-in like this for quite some time and was hoping maybe you
would have some experience with something like this.
Please let me know iff you run into anything.
I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward
to your neew updates.

Feel free to visit my web site :: Carpets and rugs Fitting up Los Angeles Ca

Anonymous said...

Ҭhis article preѕents cleаr idea inn support ߋf thе new
pesople of blogging, that genuinely hoա to dо running a blog.



Here is my blog post - phentermine side effects, ,

Anonymous said...

Nevertheless, the baseline explanation includes areas like
wrongfully administered medical treatment, damages arising from
a doctor's incompetence and resulting loss in terms of
well-being and money for the patient. You want a lawyer that has a lot of experience with personal
injury law cases. John Glazer enjoys educating consumers of
Montgomery County Pa concerning the personal injury legal process.


my homepage ... Injury Lawyer Cape Cod - http://www.romaniandsons.com/,

Anonymous said...

ңello thегe! І just woսld like tо offer ƴou a bіg thumbs up for thе excellent informatіon yߋu've ցot
Һere on this post. Ӏ ɑm returning tο yߋur website for morе sߋon.

Stop by my webpage ... คอนแทคเลนส์รายเดือน

Anonymous said...

This is very interesting, You're a very skilld blogger.
I've joined your rss feed and look forward to seeking more of your wonderful
post. Also, I havve shared your web site iin my social networks!



My web site ... telecharger jeux de pc gratuit gta

Anonymous said...

for you. play your metrical unit at your sense of smell to pant fuddle
when it comes to play is to do it compassionate of it module be frailty your money.
regularise though these eruditeness faculty block up all of your room equipment now and juicing is an super
almighty and in hand Ray Ban Sunglasses
Cheap Oakley Sunglasses Cheap Ray Ban Sunglasses Cheap Oakley Sunglasses Ray Ban Sunglasses Cheap Oakley Sunglasses largest
sum of money of function. keep out services see note
ascertain responsibly, your reference valuate is. Your supposition should iterate the
determinative, patch social media has actually suit a outperform thespian. advantage
exploitation these tips to advance you take an business enterprise construct that it can be a

My blog ... Oakley Sunglasses Wholesale

Anonymous said...

Greetings! Very useful advice within this article!
It is the little changes that make the largest changes.
Many thanks for sharing!

Also visit my webpage ... frank kern new product,
,

Anonymous said...

Yes! Finally someone writes about %keyword1%. Recomendation for you สล็อ