One aspect of Small Business Saturday folks can appreciate are their close ties to community. Bulldog Pizza has been a family owned and operated business for nearly four decades. Co-owners Sue and Ken Wright have enjoyed serving thousands of pizzas for several years. But with every small business there comes a time for a change in leadership.

The story of how Bulldog Pizza started begins back in the mid 1980’s. Ken Wright was a student the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and worked in the kitchen for a couple year until he took on the reins of leadership.   

“I was working for the previous owner for about three and a half years making pizza and delivering pizza,” Ken said. “In 1986 I bought what was called Whistle Stop Pizza and changed the name to Bulldog Pizza and Deli. We opened on August 4th, 1986, so it’s been 38 years.”

Ken says over the nearly four decades of owning Bulldog Pizza, he’s seen how much the Duluth community has grown and support their small business.

“We’ve had literally generations of customers and employees. When they came in, they were four years old, and now they’re bringing in their own four-year-olds,” Ken said. “So it’s kind of cool. We’ve made a real strong connection with the community.”

Like with most small businesses, Ken and Sue also had their kids working in the restaurant as they got older. As their family grew, so has the menu, which features entrees honoring their sons- and daughters-in-law. There’s even a special pizza dedicated to their granddaughter.

“All three of our children have worked here. They all grew up being at Bulldog all the time and then working here at high school and college years. So it’s been great. It was a fun connection with our kids,” Sue said. “So the next step was trying to find somebody that will try to carry on the legacy that we’ve created here at Bulldog.”

Ken and Sue are looking for someone else to continue the legacy of Bulldog Pizza. They did offer some tips for people wanting to own the beloved restaurant. 

“Be able to sort of transition on the fly cuz things change sometimes moment to moment, but also look at the bigger picture,” Sue said. “It’s about feeding people and making people happy, not necessarily the perfect looking pizza. Although we do make pretty tasty, perfect looking pizzas.”

As for their plans when Bulldog Pizza is sold, Sue and Ken want to spend some of their time traveling in retirement. Although they will still be in Duluth until they are able to find a potential buyer who will continue the restaurant’s legacy.

“I just wanna thank the community, because I’ll tell you, without the community support, we wouldn’t have been here for 38 years.”

For people interested in purchasing Bulldog Pizza they can contact Sue at 218-428-8876 for more information.