HUDSON — Bobbye’s Pizza Place and Dairyland in Hudson celebrated its 40th anniversary on Sept. 20, and owner Bobbye Sanford has been a fixture in the Hudson community ever since its opening.
Sanford got her start in the restaurant business while she was working for Jim Howe as the manager at the Kountry Kettle restaurant in Hudson. Howe also owned a restaurant at 102 E. Main St., and when he needed someone to take over that business from him, he approached Sanford about leasing the business for herself.
“You run it,” Howe told Sanford. “It’s your baby.”
After talking to her husband, Bobbye’s Pizza Place and Dairyland opened, and 40 years later it’s become a Hudson fixture. She bought the building outright from Howe on February 8, 1985.
“I was 27 years old at the time,” Sanford said.
When Sanford opened the restaurant, it was the only pizza business in Hudson. It was soon followed by other competition, including McDonald’s.
While the Dairyland is a seasonal business, Bobbye’s Pizza is open year-round. Sanford estimates that she sells 500 pizzas a week. The restaurant features takeout-only service.
Over the years, the menu has changed to meet the changing tastes of local pizza consumers. While tastes have changed, the way the pizzas are made hasn’t. Sanford uses the same brick ovens to bake the pizzas as she did when the pizzeria opened, she said.
“My ovens are the same as back then, 40 years ago,” Sanford said. The menu items are “all ovenable products.” She said she has a grill on site, but she uses the brick oven to prepare all the menu items.
“I was just pizza, subs and salads back then,” Sanford said of the restaurant’s early days. “But then I started to cater to the factories in town, and so I opened more of a variety, so now I have a full menu.”
Most of the pizza toppings that were originally offered in 1984 are still on the menu, but items added more recently include current favorites such as Spicy Chicken, Taco, BBQ Chicken, Chicken and Bacon Ranch, and Baked Potato featuring nacho cheese and tater tots.
“We’ve changed the specialty pizzas over time,” she said.
In addition to pizza, Bobbye’s also offers 14 different types of subs that are made on buns Sanford bakes herself, she said. There are two kinds of dessert pizzas, homemade cinnamon sticks, Bosco sticks and pretzel sticks. Bobbye’s also offers specialty “extras” such as calzones, croissant sandwiches and garlic cheese bread.
The menu also features burgers, hot dogs, nachos, tacos, quesadillas, wings, chicken tenders, specialty baked potatoes, and more.
Pizza by the slice is available from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The Dairyland offers both hard and soft-serve ice cream. Their specialty is cinnamon ice cream, and Sanford said that people will drive “for miles around” just to purchase that flavor. The “Flavor of the Week” feature is another big draw for customers.
After 40 years of running the pizzeria, Sanford has decided to turn things over to the next generation. Her son, Chad, bought the business, but Sanford is planning on staying while he learns the ropes.
She leaves a legacy of service to the Hudson community after her 40 years in the restaurant business.
“I’ve been in the community all my life,” she said.
“I’ve been a mainstay,” she continued. “Everybody knows that I want to help out.”
Bobbye’s Pizza and Dairyland is at 102 E. Main St., Hudson. Hours are Sunday from noon to 8:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. For more information, call 517-448-7104.
