Scott City Pizza Pro celebrates first anniversary, community focus

Alex Ballance, owner of two Pizza Pro locations in Southeast Missouri, is celebrating a year of running his Scott City restaurant.

Ballance had worked in the pizza industry for seven years at various Cape Girardeau restaurants: Domino’s, Imo’s, Papa Johns and Pizza Hut. He spent the bulk of his time at the Domino’s location by the Southeast Missouri State University campus.

“By the time I’d quit there, I had over 30,000 deliveries taken. I was very busy back then. … I realized I knew how to do it by myself,” he said.

Ballance’s mother owns Jay’s Bar-B-Que in Marble Hill, and his grandparents owned real estate and worked a gas station, so business is in his blood. His mother had worked with the Pizza Pro franchise there.

“Pizza Pro just let her sell frozen pizzas out the back of her shop for a while. She just wanted to become a dedicated barbecue restaurant, so she was going to get rid of it. … I was in between jobs at the time, and she told the rep, ‘You should meet my son,’” Ballance recalled.

There was only a month and a half’s time between Ballance leaving his previous work and starting a position at Pizza Pro.

“I skipped all of the middle steps. I went straight from the bottom to the top. I was a delivery driver and next thing I knew I was an owner,” he said.

Ballance took over ownership of the Marble Hill Pizza Pro in 2020. He and his wife had a daughter in 2023, and he wanted his wife to be able to take care of her, so he needed a location closer to home.

He said 2232 Main St. in Scott City had been home to a Pizza Pro in the past, so he brought the franchise back. The building was empty compared to his Marble Hill location, which had most of the equipment ready to go.

“This store, I had to start with absolutely nothing, so I had to start it from scratch. It was a rough path, but we’re getting there,” Ballance said.

The restaurant opened July 18, 2024, with the same menu as in Marble Hill. Ballance started out with several workers but currently has just four as a result of turnover and wanting to give people more hours. Ballance makes dough, cooks pizzas and closes out the store.

“That’s the kind of key that makes our pizzas really good. We make everything in-house,” he said.

The Pizza Pro company launched in 1985 in Arkansas. It has franchises across seven states, with nearly a dozen restaurants in Missouri. The company website describes it as “a grass-roots organization helping meet the needs of our community with involvement in local schools, non-profit organizations, and community service projects.”

Ballance’s Scott City location has such a community focus, hosting fundraisers for different causes. Ballance raised more than $2,000 for a Scott city family after a mother and her young son died in an April house fire. He is also hosting a fundraiser for two sisters battling cancer.

“I don’t like it when corporations come in and buy everything, run everything and they don’t really care,” he said.

Ballance said working in the pizza business was not a dream calling, but it is something he had gotten good at. He took over numerous responsibilities over his seven years in the industry that he said prepared him for a managerial role.

He recommended those interested in starting their own businesses learn everything they can about their chosen fields and gain experience in them before starting out.

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