Pizza joint’s time-tested recipes great even second day
To be recognized as the best of something is an accomplishment, and when it comes in a category as crowded as pizza, doubly so. Shotgun Dan’s Pizza earned Best Pizza honors in this year’s Best of the Best voting, but not because the restaurant did anything different than it has during its long tenure in central Arkansas — quite the opposite, in fact.
“My dad, Paul Woodard, started Shotgun Dan’s in 1976, and with the exception of the first 60 days, the pizza hasn’t changed since,” president and owner Josh Woodard said. “We don’t cut corners; we don’t weigh anything. We build it to sight and always have.”
The restaurant has been around so long, it has even spawned an urban legend or two. For example, debate has raged for years over which location — Sherwood or Rose City — was the first to open (a third, in Little Rock, opened later in 1985). Woodard chuckles at the “controversy.”
“The answer is they’re both right,” he said. “Sherwood was the first store, but it was in a leased spot. Rose City was the first location that we built. It’s the first freestanding location, and that was within the first year or two.”
What is not in question is the fandom that Shotgun Dan’s Pizza has earned through the years, something on ready display throughout the pandemic. When many restaurants and bars scrambled to survive, Shotgun Dan’s customers circled the building most nights, a testament to patrons’ affection.
“We offer something reheatable that makes great leftovers the next morning. Some people believe it’s even better for breakfast the next day,” he said. “We had a really rough month in March 2020, and from there forward, it just blew up. I just think it’s an example of the customers’ loyalty to us and us, in turn, trying to give that loyalty back to them.”
Woodard said the future of the restaurant may lie in replicating the drive-thru success via to-go-only locations, but what will never change is the true formula of Shotgun Dan’s success: good food, fair prices and great service.
“We’re successfully bridging that gap from the people who have been coming here for 40 years to attracting that next generation of loyal Shotgun Dan customers,” he said. “We’re not changing the product, but we’re marketing it differently to get us out there and say, ‘Hey, come try us. We think you’ll be happy with what you get.’”