Holy Pepperoni! After 40 years, this Richmond pizza restaurant has its expansion recipe

When the new owners of Apollo Pizza took over in 2012, they knew they had a recipe for success. If only they could find them.

In fact, they found two: One for pizza dough and one for sauce. The dough recipe was hand-written in pencil in the kitchen while the other was in an office drawer.

One change to the dough and the longtime Richmond and Eastern Kentucky University hangout was headed down a path over the next nine years that saw it expand to four locations, a sister pizza pub and a possible fifth restaurant in Corbin.

“The only change we made was a small tweak to the dough recipe that our first manager suggested that we didn’t want to make but that we ultimately had to admit made the dough a little bit better,” said co-owner Wesley Browne. “We opened with the updated dough recipe and nobody said a word. People rave about our dough to this day. We never made any change to the sauce recipe.”

The rave reviews for the handmade pizzas have come locally, named Best in Madison County by the readers of The Richmond Register for five years in a row, and far. Food Network star Alton Brown has featured Apollo on his show, “Road Eats.”

From law office to pizza

Founded in 1981, Apollo Pizza has been through three ownership changes. Browne and Kimberly Davis took over after moving his law office next to the pizza shop known for its cheekily named and incredibly tasty pies, salads, sandwiches, pastas and more.

“Back in the day he (the previous owner) didn’t have enough parking for his employees,” said Browne. “So we traded some of ours for some of his pizzas.”

An avid connoisseur of the pizza himself, Browne decided to buy the business when his neighbor died. Originally planning to rent the space out for others to manage, Browne and Davis decided to re-open Apollo themselves.

“It was my first time working in a pizza place since Pizza Hut during my undergraduate years at Michigan State University,” said Browne. “I’d been a cook, a server and a bartender before, but I’d never been in management. So I went from running a law office with one other employee to trying to run a restaurant with a bunch of moving parts. It’s been a lot to learn but I’m grateful for all that the past nine years with Apollo has taught me.”

Apollo pizza menu

For much of their first year at the helm, Browne was working full days in his law office followed by a three or four hours at Apollo to help his employees through the dinner rush. During this time he also worked tirelessly to recover Apollo’s original recipes while also coming up with his own.

“When we bought the building and the business, we were told ‘You can have the recipes if you can find them.’ We found the dough recipe and sauce recipe in the restaurant, and our suppliers helped us identify other key ingredients.”

This includes pizzas like the “It’s Always Sunny” (a Philly cheesesteak pizza named after the hit TV show “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”), the “Sausage Fest” (loaded with Fontanini sausage, spicy sausage and pepperoni) and the customer favorite “Holy Pepperoni, Batman!” (with extra pepperoni), among others.

Other pies with polarizing flavors are the buffalo chicken (which Browne got the recipe for while watching a show on the Food Network) and “Cities Of The Plain,” a southwestern inspired pizza with seasoned beef, black beans, jalapeños and more.

“We wanted to do a taco pizza while still keeping the product very unique,” said Browne. “Instead of going with a traditional Mexican or taco pizza we opted for a more southwestern flavor. People love getting it on thin crust and dipping it into our Ale 8 salsa.”

Apollo also offers highly addictive cheesy garlic sticks, oven-baked ziti, macaroni and other pastas; salads like the “Zombie” (filled with cranberries and inspired by the hit 1990s song from the band of the same name), wings, submarine sandwiches and more.

They can be paired with a number of beers (16-20 on tap depending on the location), canned wines and cocktails; bourbon and an alcoholic frozen drink machine (at all locations except North Richmond due to it being in a dry territory).

Apollo pizza expansion

Apollo’s first opened 40 years ago as a Marco’s Pizza chain. Shortly after, the original owner Mike Brooks opted to leave the franchise and polled the community for a new name. Apollo Pizza was the victor and has managed to stand the test of time.

Originally only one location, 228 S Second St. in downtown Richmond, for its first 30-plus years, Apollo has expanded to three other locations since Browne and Davis took over in 2012. This includes another Richmond location along I-75, one in Lexington (featuring an iconic mural of the late John Prine) and one in Berea’s historical district. Plus there’s the smaller-scale sister restaurant, Steam Engine Pizza Pub in Irvine. Browne says further expansion within the state is in the works with a downtown Corbin location he expects to be open by mid 2022.

Browne also hopes to complete an expanded patio with a second bar and additional bathrooms and a drive-thru at its downtown Richmond location by next summer as well. Other plans call for bringing another food tenant, possibly Irvine-based House Of ‘Cue (owned by the same group as Apollo), into the vacant building next door and adding a beer garden and alcoholic drinks to its North Richmond location if a wet/dry vote is successful.

“When we opened up in Richmond, we were terrified,” said Browne. “That fear made us work really hard… that it’s expanded like it has blows my mind. The whole thing started as a fun but scary side project, but it’s turned into a lot more. People love their Apollo Pizza, so we’re running with it.”

Apollo Pizza

Where: 228 S Second St (original downtown Richmond location), 325 Colonel Rd (North Richmond), 1451 Leestown Rd (Lexington), 215 Adams St (Berea)

Hours: Open 11 a.m. daily (closing times vary by location)

Online: ApolloPizzaMenu.com