Family-owned franchise is first of its kind here
By Bill Beene
Of the St. Louis American
Sande Beauboeuf Stevenson’s mother, Nicole Beauboeuf, can cook. Better yet, she can “burn,” the slang culinary term that means one can cook exceptionally well.
Her loving, family man of a father, Dr. Alphonse Beauboeuf, a physician with a successful private internal medicine practice, believes wholeheartedly in her.
Stevenson, a top St. Louis model and a PR/marketing/events specialist, has always dreamed of running her own business.
Mix the trio’s qualities and aspirations, and you have the spice of ingredients that recently tossed her dream into reality.
For about two months now Stevenson and her family have been rolling in dough, not so much money, as pizza.
Stevenson, her parents, her two sisters, her husband and cousin run the Pizza Haus in the pedestrian-friendly University City Loop.
No, Stevenson and her family are not German, as the business name might suggest. They’re Haitian Americans, and the restaurant is actually a franchise.
Whether it was a franchise or business from scratch didn’t matter to Stevenson and her parents, as long as it was family-owned and operated.
“We’re a very close-knit family, so we always wanted to have a family business that we could work at together and have fun with,” Stevenson said. “My dad always wanted to have something to pass on to the family and my mother’s the cook of the family, so we definitely wanted to do something food-oriented.”
While Stevenson’s mother doesn’t get her “burn” on in the St. Louis Pizza Haus kitchen, she’s still cooking up ideas for the franchise, which started as truck stop-like joint in Jefferson City.
It was mother Beauboeuf’s idea to add the St. Louis Arch to the Pizza Haus logo, personalizing it with a hometown feel. In fact, the entire restaurant has it own personality.
“The cool thing about it is that we were able to take the idea, bring the recipes and kind of create our own feel,” Stevenson said of franchise.
“Ours is probably the most contemporary, and that’s because we made it that way,” Stevenson said.
St. Louis Pizza Haus, with its squarely bayed, brown-tinted glass and sidewalk seating, is nestled between Smoothie King and Hats N Stuff at 6202 Delmar Blvd.
Inside, the 10-table, inviting and comfortably funky pizza joint features a bar in front of the cooking station for viewing and personable service.
“We’re family-friendly, and we want you to see the time, energy and care we put into the pizzas and all of our dishes,” Stevenson said of the viewing bar. “People can come up and talk to any of us – the cooks as well. It’s a really inviting experience.”
The pizza? It’s deliciously tangy, especially the chewy but crispy crust. It’s made fresh from scratch and, as the trademarked slogan says, “The trick is in the brick.”
The pizza is cooked on bricks which makes for their signature “sloppy crust.”
“It’s not just flat and paper-thin. We allow our cooks some creativity,” Stevenson said.
St. Louis Pizza Haus also serves up mild to hot-beyond-belief Buffalo wings, hoagies, pastas, nachos, bread sticks and salads. The family soon hopes to add beer and wine to the menu and will start delivering next month.
They also cater and “haus” children’s birthday parties and welcome new ideas and ventures.
Stevenson and her husband, Julian, also own Ju-San Development LLC and work fulltime jobs in addition to running the restaurant.
Sande is president; Julian, vice-president; Dr. Beauboeuf is CFO; Nicole is CEO; sister Natasha Beauboeuf is manager; sister Manushka is cashier; and cousin Karl-Stephan Beauboeuf is manager.
St. Louis Pizza Haus can be reached at (314) 862-HAUS (4287) or at www.stlouispizzahaus.com.
