Former Cat Welder Opens Brick Oven Pizza Business
Featured in the East Peoria Times Courier on Wednesday, April 15, 2009. Written by Jeanette Kendall.
East
Peoria, Ill. -
Jeff Hickerson said, “You learn lessons through life.”
One of those lessons he and his son, Evan Hickerson, are experiencing is
how to make pizza and root beer.
Another one of those life lessons is about adapting when circumstances
change.
Evan, 19, formerly worked at Caterpillar Inc. He began his career there
as a welder directly out of high school.
Evan said while he was a junior at East Peoria Community High School, he
got involved in a two-year welding program. His senior year, he placed
first in stick welding in a Mid-Illini competition. Afterward, a
Caterpillar representative visited his class and told Evan, “You’re in,”
if he was interested in a career.
Two weeks after graduation, Evan was working full-time at Caterpillar
making $18.25 an hour.
“I remember when I was in school, I had a friend making $10 an hour and
I thought he was loaded,” Evan said.
Evan said he told his boss from the beginning that he wanted to go
through college and get his degree.
His boss told him about a manufacturing technology program at Illinois
Central College. Caterpillar paid for Evan to attend ICC through a
reimbursement program as long as he received a B average.
Life was going great for about eight months. Then, right before the
program began, Evan received some bad news. His boss told him that, due
to the economy, Caterpillar was eliminating the manufacturing technology
program. Then, the tuition reimbursement program was eliminated.
“I was real gung-ho about going to school. It was kind of a real kick in
the shin. It was good money and good benefits,” Evan said.
However, maybe what happened was a blessing in disguise, because Evan
said, “I didn’t want to be a welder my whole life. Everybody was talking
about layoffs ... I could kind of see the end of the tunnel coming.”
Rather than wait to be laid off, Evan took charge and quit in January so
he could enroll in time for classes at ICC.
“It was really unsure. I sat down and talked to my boss about it. He
said, ‘I understand where you’re coming from. I might even get laid
off.’”
Evan said the decision to quit was tough and “life-changing,” but he
said he thinks he made the right choice.
He approached his father and asked his advice about work.
“I said, ‘Dad, I just quit. What do you got for me?’”
Jeff owns his own business called Horizon Computers on Meadows Avenue.
Jeff has owned the building his business is in for 20 years. Part of the
building previously had a coffee shop in it called Mug Shot, which
changed to Mud Puddle. Jeff tried to keep the coffee shop going, but it
was difficult, since he already had a full-time job with computers. Jeff
started to suggest that Evan run the coffee shop, but that idea was
squashed quickly.
Evan told his father, ‘Whoa, I don’t want to get up that early for a $1
cup of coffee.’
They then came up with the idea to combine their coffee venture with
pizza, and Mud Puddle Coffee & Pizza was created.
Jeff said he formerly hosted car cruise-ins in the parking lot at his
business. They cooked food on an outdoor grill. Then Jeff considered
purchasing a pizza oven for the cruise-ins, but found they were too
expensive. That is when he got the idea to build a brick oven.
Rotramel Ovens of Champaign built the inner part of the oven, while
father and son constructed the outer part by hand.
Over the next seven weeks, they learned by trial and error and “the
school of hard knocks.” In fact, they are still learning and tweaking
their recipes for their homemade brick-oven pizzas and homemade root
beer, which comes in a frosty mug.
The business is open from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday —
around Evan’s school schedule. If business is slow, Evan does his
homework.
When asked what Evan knows about pizza, he said, “a lot now.”
Jeff purchased the mixer for their dough and they began making their own
sauce. Family and friends tested the first products.
“A lot of times, family’s more brutal than friends,” Evan said. “The
first ones were kind of doughy.”
Evan said his mother is their harshest critic because she is a home
cook.
Of course, Evan’s friends were eager to test the pizzas and they went
through a lot of supplies.
Jeff said stoking the oven, which he does about noon, requires a lot of
effort. By 4 p.m., the oven reaches 800 degrees and is ready to bake
7-inch or 14-inch pizzas in about two-and-a-half minutes. This is when
Evan comes in to set up and prepare for the night.
“It gets pretty busy. I haven’t had much time for homework,” Evan said.
The menu lists pizzas, such as “Meat Eater,” “The Vegetarian,” “The
Works,” “Tomato Basil” and “Hawaiian.” Pizza toppings include ham,
pepperoni, sausage, bacon, mushrooms, green peppers, onions, garlic,
black and green olives, pineapple and tomato chunks. The 14-inch pizzas
range in price from $10.90 to $16.60. There is some indoor seating, pick
up (including a drive-up window) or Take N Bake pizzas.
Over the seven weeks, business has increased steadily, and there was
only one night they did not sell anything.
Selling root beer resulted after a customer asked if they served beer.
When they told him they did not serve beer, he said they should at least
serve root beer then.
Jeff began researching root beer recipes and learned that the beverage
is more than 1,000 years old. He said he also learned that sassafras is
no longer used in root beer because it is carcinogenic. Last week, upon
sampling some of the beverage from a frosty mug, Jeff said he thinks he
still needs to do some tweaking even though he is now on his fourth
recipe.
Homemade micro brew root beer is sold in a mug, a half gallon or one
gallon.
The Hickersons will not reveal their secret ingredients, but they did
say there are seven in the root beer, 11 in the dough and 21 in the
sauce.
Still — making pizza is not Evan’s ultimate goal. After graduating from
ICC, he wants to follow in his sister’s footsteps and attend Bradley
University for a degree in engineering.
Then, he may go back to Caterpillar some day.
“I like working in the factory. I liked the atmosphere. My boss laughed.
He said when you come back, you’ll be my boss’ boss,” Evan said.
Mud Puddle Coffee & Pizza is located at 222 Meadows Ave. The phone
number is 699-4287. There is also a Web site at
www.chefevobrickovenpizza.com.