ANDALUSIA, Illinois — After a year of bad weather and a kitchen fire, Snowstar is starting this season on a happy note with a new food partnership.
Even though we're a couple months away from hitting the slopes, once the snow falls at Snowstar, pizza from Happy Joe's will be on the menu full time. The two businesses made the joint announcement on Thursday that starting this season, Happy Joe's Pizza will be made fresh at the Lunar Lounge at Snowstar and sold there to everyone stopping by.
The kitchen and menu are all still in the design phase, but it's a great start to putting a difficult season for Snowstar in the past. There were a number of closures last year because of warm weather and not enough snow, and a kitchen fire put most of their food options out of commission for the entire year. Now, bringing in a well-known Quad Cities name like Happy Joe's is getting staff at Snowstar excited to open their doors to the new winter crowds.
"Yeah, we experienced a lot last year, stuff I don't think people ever need to experience. It makes you stronger, and joining with Happy Joe's and their force, it's a great opportunity and a great thing for our guests," Snowstar General Manager Dan McCanna said.
They're expecting to design the Happy Joe's at Snowstar similar to the PizzaGrille set up near the Western Illinois-Quad Cities campus in Moline. They'll also be reaching out to Snowstar visitors to see what pizza flavors they'd like to see on the menu.
Even though the kitchen and menu are still being organized and designed, owners expect the new Happy Joe's PizzaGrille to be ready by Snowstar's opening weekend.