The walls inside 113 East Elm Street reflect the Granville building’s nearly 100-year run as a local business.
Early on, it was a place to buy a car, and for the past 40 years, its owners have been serving up pizza, subs, salads and good cheer.
Other pizza shops have come and gone in Granville, but The Elms Pizza Parlor is enduring, not only because of the popularity of its menu, but also because of its family atmosphere. It’s the classic hangout for Little League and Granville Rec District soccer teams after games at Raccoon Valley Park or Wildwood Park.
Elms celebrated its 40th anniversary in October, commemorating four decades of hosting Girl Scout troops, soccer teams, visiting musicians, birthday parties, wedding receptions and family get-togethers.
When Luther Hudson Williams bought the building back in 1936, he set up his Chevrolet dealership – Hud’s Chevrolet Sales – which he ran until his passing in 1963. From 1963 to 1984, the Williams family leased the building to other businesses.
But then Williams’ son, Bernie, was in an accident that required him to give up his job as a car salesman. Looking for another way to provide for his six children, Bernie and his wife, Hilah, decided to convert the building into a pizzeria.
It has been a local landmark among restaurants since then.
Tammy Williams, one of Bernie and Hilah’s children, is the current owner, having worked at Elms since the day it opened while she was in high school.
“It’s been a fun family event,” Williams said, referring to both her family that founded the restaurant and the extended family they have built with their employees. “We’ve got generations of families working here. I always say we are the misfit family.”
The Elms dining room was once the auto showroom, which is why the walls are adorned with photos of old cars. Below the dining room, in the lower level of the building, was the repair garage for the car business.
Elms Pizza Parlor has many regulars, who are known not only by name, but also by their orders. This is due in part to the establishment having maintained the same menu and recipes since it first opened in 1984, something that long-time employee Stephanie Chrysler says is a secret to its longevity. And its decor rarely changes, consisting of Coca-Cola memorabilia, family portraits, signed posters, and the car dealership photos and papers.
“They care a lot about the product they serve and about being a part of the community,” Chrysler said. “I think people come because it’s a family atmosphere.”
Chrysler has worked part-time at Elms since she was in high school, being a part of the Williams’ extended family for 23 years. Her teenage son now works there alongside her, answering the phones. Despite their very busy Fridays and Saturdays, Elms still has no online ordering platform, meaning that to place an order without coming in, you have to call, something that Chrysler thinks is good for teaching the high-school employees phone etiquette.
“It’s very homey,” Chrysler said. “It makes me feel good to come in. That’s why I have stuck around.”
She said she attended Thanksgiving dinners with the Williams family many times over the years that she has worked there and commemorates their willingness to help others.
One former regular, Denise Hoskinson, began working at Elms during the COVID-19 pandemic – after she stopped raising pigs on her farm just outside of Granville. She had been a regular customer for years and got to know the Williams family after her husband fixed kitchen equipment for them on occasion.
“They treat their work family like their own,” Hoskinson said. “There is no better place to work.”
Even at age 95, Bernie Williams still comes in to work six mornings a week to grate cheese for the day’s pizzas and then hitches a ride home with his sister after his work is done. He long ago released the reins of the family business to his children.
Each of Bernie and Hilah Williams’ children and grandchildren have worked at Elms, alongside an uncounted number of Licking County high-schoolers and returning college students.
Tammy Williams, 57, attributes the family atmosphere and down-to-earth management of Elms to her family’s Christian roots. Her maternal grandfather was a Methodist minister.
“God has definitely been with us and helped us as we started out – not knowing much – and has kept us going,” Williams said. “Granville is a small town, and being part of the community is a big thing for us. We’re big on family values as Christians – and having a place where people can come and bring their families, enjoy a meal and meet friends.”
Delivery driver Lilly Barton said, “Tammy, the owner, runs a tight ship and trains employees really hard in the beginning so things run smoothly later. She really has a ‘no BS’ attitude, which all of the employees have a lot of respect for.”
Barton, a freshman at Ohio State University, has worked at Elms for almost two years, coming back during college breaks to continue as a delivery driver. She said that workers all know their jobs, and they have fun, even when it gets a little chaotic with a crush of orders.
“The staff is like one big family; I made so many friends working there,” Barton said. “Most of the customers we get are regulars and, as a delivery driver, I have favorite houses to deliver to and families that know me by name and invite me inside to talk.”
Gabrielle Graves, 18, is a global commerce major at Denison University who grew up in Granville. She remembers going often to Elms Pizza with her dad and playing the pinball machine and the hunting simulator that both had a place in the dining room.
“It definitely had that classic Midwestern atmosphere,” Graves said.
Katelyn Koklich, a senior at Granville High School, has worked at Elms for a year and a half, making and serving the same pizzas she enjoyed every other Friday with her family. Her family has been friends with the Williams family for years and her dad grew up eating at Elms as well.
“It’s sort of like my second family; everyone comes together to help out and we always have some good sweet treats in the back,” Koklich said. “I really like it there because of the friends I’ve made along the way.”
Koklich plans to attend Ohio University in the fall to pursue a degree in child psychology but wants to return to work at Elms whenever she visits home.
“It is really nice to be able to contribute to your hometown, even if it’s just something small like working at a pizzeria,” Koklich said.
Katey Woodruff writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.