New Pizza Ranch GM wants to give everyone the love at Spring Celebration this week

“I just want to give the ‘Pizza Ranch’ love to everyone,” Newton Pizza Ranch General Manager Bethany Kroeze said.

Pizza Ranch will be celebrating it’s annual Spring Celebration this week. Kroeze and her staff have spent the past few weeks touching up the store with a fresh coat of paint and other spring cleaning activities.

“We had the chance to do an interior remodel, which hasn’t been done since 2008,” Kroeze said. “I just wanted to give a fresh change to the atmosphere of the restaurant.”

The spring celebration week will be more than just showing off the store, but having a chance to celebrate spring with Pizza Ranch.

“It will give the community a chance to meet me and to win prizes,” Kroeze said. “We will be giving away a boy’s and girl’s bike at the store. We will also have food specials as well as giving away food prizes at the store and on Facebook.”

Kroeze is a Pella native and alumni of Pella Christian High School. She started working for Pizza Ranch at the age of 14 in Pella.

“When I first started out working in Pella, I never thought I would be a career option for me, but when I got to my senior year of high school it proved to be a career opportunity for me,” Kroeze said.

After finishing high school, Kroeze went on to attend Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa. She finished with a degree in both business management and journalism. During her college years, she was able to work in the second Pizza Ranch location in Iowa as well as a trainer at the corporate office in Orange City.

“It was through working at different locations, I was able to meet Brad Cleveringa, the current co-franchisee of Newton Pizza Ranch,” Kroeze said. “We joked around about him owning a location and having me be the general manager at one of his locations.”

The decision brought Kroeze back near her hometown of Pella, which has allowed her to reconnect with old friends while getting used to the store location.

“It’s different being outside of town because you get different customers passing through,” Kroeze said. “Old friends and family always seem to try to stop by to see the store, which has been great.”

Kroeze is especially excited about being the pizza of the Iowa Speedway and having the experience of working with the Speedway.

“It’s cool to be in a town revolving around a national sport,” Kroeze said. “It’s great to be able to have the Pizza Ranch name on Victory Lane in such a big arena.”

Pizza Ranch will continue to be involved in the community with events and fundraisers with “Community Impact Night”.

“We will also be a new vendor at Thunder Nites Bike Night,” Kroeze said. “Were not sure on the selection, but will get a variety of items out to bike night.”

Pizza Ranch is located out by the interstate at 1500 West 18th St. S. and can be contacted at (641) 792-3447.