- A group of investors doing business as Happy Joe’s Holdings acquired the Iowa-based concept.
- Carlos Araujo, who brings 30 years of restaurant experience, will lead the pizza company as president.
- Araujo said leadership has made a commitment to improve operations and lend greater support to franchisees.
Since surviving a bankruptcy and pursuing new plans for growth, 54-year-old Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream has remained challenged in recent years.
The new owners of the legacy brand are hoping to reverse course with a strategy meant to maintain its identity built over five decades while revamping how the business is run. A group of investors based in the concept’s home state of Iowa, who are remaining anonymous but doing business as Happy Joe’s Holdings, acquired the company at the end of September.
Leading the group’s renewal effort is Carlos Araujo, an industry veteran with 30 years of experience hired to turn things around. Araujo said conversations about acquiring Happy Joe’s began last winter.
“The owners grew up with Happy Joe’s,” Araujo said. “They’ve been fans and loved the culture, but watched it fade over the years. About nine months ago, they saw an opportunity to take on Happy Joe’s, and that’s where everything stared. We found the right people, started making moves and the acquisition became more reasonable.”…