How Peppinos Built A 50-Year Family Legacy In West Michigan

Peppinos is a name most West Michigan locals recognize, but the origin is pure Standale: one shop, a family hustle, and a neighborhood that has transformed around it. We’re joined by Joe DiLeonardo as Peppinos celebrates 50 years in business in 2026, and he takes us back to the earliest days, when the drive felt long, the back lot still had trees, and a kid could grow up learning the rhythms of a pizza kitchen. Along the way, we swap memories of Walker landmarks and how a local restaurant becomes part of a community’s personal timeline. 

We dig into the real reasons long-running restaurants survive when so many don’t. Joe shares how Peppinos stays consistent by investing in people and refusing to let quality slide, from grinding their own cheese to keeping core ingredients made from scratch. We also talk about adapting to modern realities like volume demands and post-COVID challenges without abandoning what made the pizza special in the first place, including the operational shift from old-school deck ovens to equipment that can keep up. 

The conversation widens into the next generation and what growth looks like when it’s driven by family passion: catering, the Peppino's Hospitality Group, an event center, and West Side Social. Joe also lays out blunt, practical entrepreneurship advice for anyone starting a business in Walker, Michigan or anywhere else: the first 5 to 10 years take real sacrifice and being all in. We wrap with details on the 50th anniversary celebration, including half-off 14-inch pizzas and free pizzas for the first families at the Standale location. If you enjoy local business stories, family business leadership, and the craft behind great pizza, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find Made in Walker.

If you have comments about this podcast, or ideas for future episodes, please email us at PODCAST@WALKER.CITY

Transcript

Welcome To Maiden Walker

SPEAKER_02 0:07

Welcome to Maiden Walker, a podcast that connects you to the people, the stories, and the ideas shaping our community. From local innovators to everyday change makers, we're diving deep into what makes Walker a great place to live, work, and grow. Here's your host, Nicole DiDonato.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Did you know one of West Michigan's most recognized pizza chains actually got its start in Standale? Well, now in 2026, Papinos celebrates 50 years in business, and we're joined by Joe Di Leonardo to talk about the family legacy and maybe what's next for Papinos. Thank you so much for taking the time to join us today.

First Memories Of The Shop

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Yeah, so what are your earliest memories of uh the family shop?

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Um honestly, uh I was six years old when we started um Papinos. I just remember kind of uh in the location right there where the laundromat is in Standale, the high tone, um, we were in that building, and I remember as a kid, um, there was no roads back there. There was trees, and me and my buddy would go there and just ride our bikes and just play around in the back. And you know, it's just I remember as a kid, it was such a far drive. We lived in Wyoming, and it was just I felt like we were driving to Detroit. Like, oh my gosh, just such a long drive. And now you think about everything, it's 15 minutes away. So there's yeah, a million memories, but um yeah, it's Standale's grown. I just remember what it was then and now, and the you know, all the growth of Meyer. I remember the original Meyer in Standale when I was driving by um on the corner where Walgreens is. I remember the Vista Drive-in.

unknown 1:45

Yeah.

Why The First Location Was Standale

SPEAKER_00 1:47

I think E.T., the movie. Yes, sure. I remember as a kid. This is a memory I always have, is when I was driving up to uh Wilson, hanging a left, we'd always drive by the Vista where the Meyer is now. And I remember looking up all the time, there was a movie playing. And I always remember E.T. on the screen. Like I just remember that. I think it was like 81. Yeah, 81, 82, something like that. Something like that. I remember that memory and and on and on. Just yeah, it's crazy. And yeah, for a family, you know, growing up in Wyoming, how did they choose the stand-il location to be the first place to um uh so my dad, you know, the founder um and my uncle both worked at Keeler Brass factory downtown, and they um they had a pizza shop before that, but then they worked at the factory and they were working a bunch of jobs. And I my dad just uh I'm not sure really why he picked Standale. I just know that as a kid, I remember, hey, um, we're opening a pizza shop and it happened to be on Lake Michigan Drive in Standale. Um I remember as a kid, um it had to be in the late 70s, um, making big orders and delivering them to the factory. You know, my mom would work in the pizza pizzeria. Um, so I remember those, but yeah, Standale was it. And uh I think you know, they started, I think it was a lot Grand Valley was college back then, so I thought they thought, you know, let's we can deliver to the college. Yeah. There was nothing in Allendale. Yeah. And um so we just delivered from Standale to the college. I think that was a big pull. Um and then they ended up eventually opening the other one in '81 in Allendale. But yeah, I remember that. I remember a lot more than I thought. I'm I'm surprised what I remember, honestly.

The Nonnegotiable From-Scratch Standard

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Yeah. And you know, I'm sure that when your dad and uncle open up the business, they weren't thinking like, oh, fit, we're gonna be, you know, in 50 years, we're still gonna be here. So pretty incredible to create that legacy. What do you think it is about Papinos that really helps sustain it through the years?

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Well, a lot of it is, you know, we've been very fortunate to have um employees that have been working for us in Standale location. Um, I've got a group, I have Paul, Tom, and Tara have been with me for 26 years. That's huge. Um, before that, I was there, you know, for always there all the time, day in and day out, um, just making sure we continue to make everything from scratch. And to this day, um, we I think we're one of the only pizzarias, like very few of us, that grind our own cheese and make our own everything from scratch still, our own sausage, everything. Um, and we're just kind of stubborn, we're gonna just keep doing it. Um so we're yeah, pretty passionate about that.

Modern Changes Without Losing Quality

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Love that. You know, it's incredibly rare to hear this um about businesses lasting so long, especially in the food service industry. You hear a lot of it now post-COVID, and just um what kind of changes have you had to make and kind of roll through um throughout the the decades? Did I mean stay relevant?

SPEAKER_00 4:52

We need to I think you know, uh some of the changes we we made, which was hard for us because back old school pizzarias, we all we had the deck ovens in there with a stone, and they were they cooked pizzas, you know, yeah they seared them on the stone, it was hot, but they were just limited to volume and it's they're so hot. And back in the day when I was in the pizzeria's in the 80s and 90s, we had no air, you know, and it was you couldn't turn those off. So then you'd get to work the next morning, and they it was already so hot in there, and then the volume, I started picking up school orders and bigger, you know, accounts like that, and I'm like, man, so our biggest thing was is um change into the conveyor style oven, which they've come a long way since uh when we started that. But other than that, honestly, it's just you know, keeping good good help in there and keeping committed to just making everything from scratch. We just don't sway from that. Yeah.

Taking Over And Growing The Brand

SPEAKER_01 5:50

So and you can tell the difference, you know. That's uh very noticeable. And you know, was it something always that you thought you were just automatically gonna take over the business, or did you have other plans?

Kids Spark New Hospitality Ventures

SPEAKER_00 6:00

But yeah, I I I think I knew in high school um that I was just gonna um take over one of the pizzerias. I was working with my dad and my uncle Papino, which he they were partners, so he ended up um taking over the stay and location. My dad opened the Allendale, so I was always working back and forth all the time, and and I decided, you know, that's what I loved. I've been doing it since I was a kid, it was just everything was natural, and uh um I just had a passion for it, and uh yeah, so I was probably in my in high school I knew that's what I wanted to do, honestly, and going forward. And and my dad always just would just I took over, I think, when I was 20 in Standale. Um, so I've already owned it for 30, almost 36 years myself. Um geez, ages me. But um no, I just and then I got bored quickly and I just wanted to keep growing, and then I started to want to franchise and you know, people started asking about it, and then you know, on and on. And um, and now my kids are pretty much all following in my footsteps. So third generation, you know.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

That's great, and it's kind of how you've uh evolved as well, opening up the Papinos Hospitality Group, just expanding that way, Banquet Center. That was that kind of like always your vision for what she wanted to really.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Um, I think you know, the catering, we started Madelena's catering um probably 2010 or 11. Um and then down the road, um, you know, my daughter now is involved, and we did a lot of off-site catering, and they were just like, Man, this is so much work and loading trucks and doing all this, and all these people did these venues, and we can do it better. And so it kind of all my daughter just kind of said, Hey dad, I want to go to Grand Valley, I want to do hospitality, and this is what I want to do. So that kind of drove me to do the event center West Side Social Um Tavern. That was my son Anthony, which he said to he was working at the pizzeria, he's like, you know, I like pizza's dad, but I want to do something cool and different. I mean, not that pizza's not cool. So he went to the you know institute down here at Secchia um for culinary and and then we ended up opening the the West Side Social for Anthony to kind of you know do his passion and love. And so we kind of, you know, it's kind of the reason for that kind of stuff. I mean the kids drove that a little bit. And then my family and my wife, all of them just support and help. And I mean, I couldn't do it without them, obviously. It takes a lot of work, um a lot of hours and missing things and you know, with the kids growing up. So um, but you know, I think now the kids understand it and and they're loving it, and yeah, it's it's great.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

It'd be a very proud dad to kind of see them go off on their specific ventures and see those flourish themselves. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

No, it's funny. They they're they're in it and uh they see how much work it is, and they always want to open different things, and I think they're getting to the point now we're like, okay, I think we have it we have enough. I think I said, yeah, let's just relax and let's concentrate what we have. It's a lot of work nowadays. Help getting the right people in, you know, in is hard, you know, to hire the right people now is hard. It's just it's getting harder and harder.

unknown 9:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

But um, but like I said, we're very fortunate. We have great people on staff, and we're only as successful as what we have is for employees. I mean, they are awesome, they're all family, so it's it's we're pretty lucky that way.

Culture That Keeps Great Employees

SPEAKER_01 9:22

And that longevity with the the people who work for you, that speaks volumes to the culture that you have. And what do you think about those family values you've been you've been able to take throughout the decades and pass down to the next generation? What is what are some of those values that you hold so dear?

SPEAKER_00 9:35

I that's what I mean. I tell my kids like, guys, um you have to treat everybody like family, like your employees are super important, and that's what I've learned over the years. I've taught my kids, and I think everybody is just um, you know, value all your employees, treat them like they're literally your family, and they will take care of you. And that's what I've learned over the years. My dad told me that, you know, too. He always, my dad always treated everybody so nice, and so he never really got upset ever. And I just watched him, and and that's what I learned from my dad, and I'm just trying to pass that on and say, guys, I know it's tough, but just value everyone and know how important they are for your success, and and that's kind of what I've tried to, you know, pass on to them.

50th Anniversary Deals And Giveaways

SPEAKER_01 10:19

That's a fantastic mindset. And and now coming up on 50 years, what are some of the big plans that you have? Is it May 12th is the exact kind of May 12th?

SPEAKER_00 10:28

We're looking at um I think all the Papinos locations we're going to do um half off all 14-inch pizzas, just from noon to eight all day. Any 14-inch pizza, I think you can get up to three of them. Okay. So you can do half off all day for the 50th anniversary. Uh stand-al location, we are gonna do that, but we also at 4 p.m. are gonna um give away 50 free pizzas. So the first 50 families that come in will receive a free pizza. So I mean, that's kind of what we want to do. And we thought I want to get in there and throw the old apron on and man, I can still sling. So yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

How'd you learn that? Did you have some like flops too?

SPEAKER_00 11:08

I mean, is that you know, as a kid, like it's like anything when you grow up in it, and I just I loved, you know, it's funny. I growing up, you see pizza rolls and all this stuff in the grocery stores, and I and we laugh, we go, me and my buddy that used to work there like, we created those things back in the day. Like, we it's just you grow up in it and and you create all the stuff, and but no, it's natural to me. I mean, I still, wherever pizzery I am, if I'm at downtown or wherever and they're busy and I'll jump in the kitchen, I'll bang out pizzas, and they just love it. You know, and a lot of the new employees will go, Who's this guy? He, oh my gosh, he's like, and they're like, Oh, that's the Papino, yeah, or whatever they whatever they call me. And um, you know, I can make them like I did back in the day. It's just it's it's like riding a bike. Yeah, and I enjoy I enjoy it to me, you know. Life gets busy with doing what we're doing, but just to sit there and make a pizza sometimes it's just awesome.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Therapeutic.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

It is therapeutic. It's just I love it, you know. So I do enjoy doing that. So I do enjoy, I want to do that, like I said, for their anniversary. I want to be there and I want to make some pizzas. And I know so many customers. And again, like my kids being third generation, we have third generation customers in Standale, and they I have kids that come in and see me and they're like, hey, remember when my dad threw me on, always set me on the counter and you'd feed me pepperoni. And I'm just like, yeah, I do remember that. I can't believe you remember that. It's just it's awesome to you know see that.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

What a feeling to hear those stories and how you were part of family anniversaries, parties. They always had Papinos.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

So that's pretty incredible.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

We're very fortunate. And uh yeah. So we're looking forward to the 50th anniversary and hopefully 50 more. So you know, the kids there saying, hey dad, we're 50 more. I said, Well, I won't be around for 50 more, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

But what a legacy and that name that's just gonna live on now in West Michigan history. That's uh that's pretty cool to have.

Hard-Won Advice For Entrepreneurs

SPEAKER_00 13:08

No, we're very uh we're very lucky and fortunate and blessed to have you know 50 years under our belt. So yeah, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

And uh for businesses that are looking to you and just you know, maybe entrepreneurs that are looking to get started, uh, what is some kind of sound business advice you could give to uh a next generation of folks that want to be successful in whatever kind of career it is?

SPEAKER_00 13:29

Yeah, I mean it's it's like the pizza business or any business. If if you're gonna be an entrepreneur and and start a business, I mean it's very important that you spend the first five, ten years all in. You you know, a lot of people open and they just want to make it an investment and they just throw people in there and think you have to put your time in. There's sacrifice, family sacrifice. I mean, just you know it's the only way you're gonna be successful. Um that's what I've seen over the years. And you know, when we open restaurants, we just open another one, and my son is he was working 100 hour weeks, and I'm like the first month, and I'm like, it's part of the game, kid. You know, you gotta commit and uh put your time in.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Um so yeah, you stick it out, and you know, people see what special products you have, and it it's all gonna be worth it.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

So be committed to it and and don't sway. And once you get your mindset, you want to do fret, you know, like we do. It's like we are who we are, and everything's from scratch, and you just gotta stay with it. So yeah.

How To Share Feedback

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Well, Joe, we're so excited that we can kind of claim you and Walker as the first uh location there, but really proud of what you've built there and what you all do for our community, especially. And we're happy to celebrate 50 years. So congratulations. Thank you. Appreciate that. Yeah. And thank you for tuning in for this episode.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Maiden Walker Podcast. If you have comments or questions about this podcast, or if you have suggestions for future episodes, we'd love to hear from you. Please drop us an email at podcast at walker.city. Maiden Walker is the official podcast of the city of Walker, Michigan. You can find Maiden Walker wherever you get your podcasts.