Alaska isn’t exactly known for it’s restaurant scene. When it comes to pizza though, it has a major claim to fame: Moose’s Tooth Pub and Pizzeria, the highest grossing independent pizza restaurant in the United States of America.
Moose’s Tooth, located in the 300,000-person city of Anchorage, has annual sales of around $6 million. Owned by two rock climbing friends, Rod Hancock and Matt Jones, Moose’s Tooth opened in the late 1990s. Hancock had a passion cooking, and Jones had a thing for home brewing, but neither had restaurant experience, according to Pizza Magazine Quarterly.
Turns out Alaska was a good place for them to get into the restaurant business. Moose’s Tooth was a hit almost as soon as it opened, Jones told Alaska Daily News, and the pizzeria has expanded four times. The duo has also expanded their brand with a theater, grill, and brewery. Drunk moose aren’t the only things hungry up in Anchorage after all.
If you make it up to Anchorage for a pizza and beer, expect a long wait. Judging from Moose’s Tooth’s success, though, it’ll be well worth it.
