A pizza created at Happy Joe’s Pizza and Ice Cream in Crookston was awarded first place in the Secret Recipe Contest at the Happy Joe’s National Franchise Convention in April.
The Spicy Cluckin’ Gold Pizza was created by assistant general manager Killian Kuchan, a Happy Joe’s Crookston employee for the last six years. His creation includes a special golden sauce, American Cheese, crispy breaded chicken, pickle chips, and sliced jalapeños, topped with a drizzle of golden sauce. He has always been creative in the kitchen at Happy Joe’s and came up with the recipe before he knew about the contest. “Since I started here, I’ve kind of innovated,” said Kuchan. “I’ve been just trying to make a lot of different things since I started at Happy Joe’s. So I had the pizza before the contest, but when we brought it in, I think there were five contestants and it won, which I was pretty happy with. But yeah, Cluckin’ Gold, it’s my masterpiece.”
Killian attended the convention, where his pizza was selected by a panel of judges as the first-place winner. He was surprised to see his pizza win, as the other entries were very creative as well. “I was a little surprised. There was some good food there, like there was walking nachos. I thought it was a pretty good one, but yeah, I was pretty happy. I went up there, and I got a couple things, but yeah, I was really happy.”
To celebrate Killian’s winning recipe, his Spicy Cluckin’ Gold Pizza, and a non-spicy version without the jalapeños, is now available at Happy Joe’s Crookston, with a portion of the proceeds from each Cluckin’ Gold Pizza going toward Kuchan as a reward for his creativity and award-winning recipe. So far, he has received incredible feedback from customers and thanks everyone in the community for their support and kind words. “Today, I actually had a customer ask to put on the buffet, so I put it out there, and they said that they enjoyed it, so I was glad about that. I want to thank everybody who supported me, and posted on Facebook and everything. I really appreciate all the love and support.”
The Cluckin’ Gold and Spicy Cluckin’ Gold Pizzas will be available to order at Happy Joe’s through December 31, but the goal is to have them added to all of the Happy Joe’s franchise locations across the country.
