Two years ago, I started working at a small pizza restaurant not far from my house whose whole premise was having the customer choose what was on their pizza as it was being made right in front of them. I had spent a year working there and had an absolute blast, but it closed down. It wouldn’t be until a year and a half later when I was introduced to a pizza chain known as Mod Pizza.

Mod was very similar in structure to the old restaurant I remembered so well, and sitting down to enjoy my pizza brought back fond memories. It wasn’t perfect; in fact, I still thought the first pizza place that I worked at was superior, but I knew right then that I wanted to work at Mod. After finding out that a brand new restaurant would be opening in Elgin, I applied on the spot, and fortunately, I got the job. I found out that I’d be on the opening crew, and I was ecstatic. I couldn’t wait to get started.

At my first job, I enjoyed the speed with which we made the pizzas; we seemed to work at a hundred miles-per-hour. But when I started my week-long training session at Mod, I discovered something that I did not expect. Mod did not prioritize making as many pizzas as possible; instead, they focused on the customer experience. My trainers explained that Mod isn’t just about the food, it’s about giving the customer something to smile about, and I got to see first-hand what they meant by that.

At the conclusion of our training, the “soft-launch” of our new restaurant began. All proceeds would be going to Elgin school districts, and as a result, we had a line out the door on our pre-opening night. It eventually got to the point where we couldn’t move fast enough to keep up with the demand. So we gave everyone a reason to smile that night.

I watched my coworkers keep everyone motivated and also saw customers having a good time despite having to wait so long for their pizzas. While they took orders, my coworkers would tell jokes, stories and would ask each and every customer to tell them an interesting fact about themselves. My trainers would get the guests to chant and dance until the line moved forward, and all night, I was running through the line giving whoever was interested lemonade, tea and milkshakes.

At the end of the night, as the business slowed and people were starting to leave, I remember apologizing to one customer for the wait, but he just shrugged.

“Are you kidding?” he said. “I was in line for an hour, but I barely noticed. Tonight was too much fun!”

Overall, Mod Pizza was not what I was expecting, and in my experience working there so far, it’s been a lot of fun.

Their mission statement is very unique: “If we take care of our employees, they’ll take care of you, and our business will take care of itself. We call it Spreading MODness”.

Though our trainers have moved on to opening a new store, the Elgin Mod will always have Luke Fanger’s favorite phrase as our unofficial slogan: “We are making pizzas, and serving smiles.”