If you want to be the next Pizza King of Mount Vernon, Alger’s Pizza Palace is looking for a new owner.
Rawley Alger, co-owner of the restaurant, said he and his wife are looking to sell after more than 22 years running the business.
One of the reasons was that Alger has had an increase in his workload with the United States Postal Service. Alger has served as a rural mail delivery driver, starting at the Lisbon United States Postal Service. Last year, Alger was upgraded to an ox route for the United States Postal Service, delivering mail in rural Stanwood.
“It’s a 16-mile drive for me every day to work, and a 50-mile route I’m now responsible for delivering six days a week,” Rawley said.
Lisa has also retired as a school teacher, now working days she chooses as a substitute teacher. Both are getting up in age to a point where it is harder to work the second shift job.
The couple’s son, Lucas, had been interested in taking over the restaurant years ago. Lucas, though, is currently working at New Belgium Brewing Company and putting in time towards earning the title of brewmaster. That takes a four-year commitment, but he’d be able to keep that title the rest of his life.
“It’s too good of an opportunity for Lucas to give up,” Rawley said. “We’ve opened the opportunity up to other family members, but we’ve all got different life priorities, and many of them appreciate having first shift jobs.”
Rawley said, since he put the sign up in the window just ahead of Magical Night, he has had a few offers of interest, but no buyers right at the moment. Part of that was the timing for some of the requests.
“One of the first buyers wanted to tour the restaurant the morning after he called,” Rawley said. “It was during the holiday season, which is one of the busiest for the USPS, especially with all of the holiday and Amazon packages we had to deliver. We agreed to meet up closer to the beginning of the year.”
Rawley and Lisa said they will keep the business operating for now and until it sells. Rawley is also willing to work with a new owner to help teach them all they would need to know about making pizzas the Algers way.
“This could be a pizza place, or it could be a pizza place and more,” Rawley said. “The new owners would get the restaurant space and the two upstairs apartments with tenants.”
Rawley said he wants to sell the business as a turn-key operation for two reasons – the name Pizza Palace sticks with the establishment, and the phone number for the business would continue on as well, a number many people in Mount Vernon and Lisbon already know.
The business weathered the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the derecho of 2020.
Rawley said with his 60th birthday coming up in roughly two months and 20 years running this business on top of the postal route, he’s ready to start stepping down to one job a day and enjoy some semi-retirement as he finishes his time with the USPS.
He got a three-year fishing and hunting license from one of his granddaughters he is looking to have more time to do something with, be that fishing in the creek near the Alger farm or going hunting during those seasons.
“It’s going to be a big change,” Rawley said. “I’ve done so many days a week where I do the mail route and then go to make some pizza dough from scratch.
“We’re definitely going to miss the customers, our regulars and all the birthday parties and celebrations that have happened at Algers Pizza Palace,”
Another perk for the business – the proximity to main street, especially during the busy festival season in the summer.
“With Chalk the Walk, Heritage Days, Nitty Gritty Antiques Festival, Chocolate Stroll, there are so many big events that draw people to Mount Vernon in the summer,” Rawley said.
Lisa also said if people want to put in time with the athletic directors for Cornell College’s opponents, there are opportunities to sell pizza orders when those competitors arrive in town.
“Every one of them has been pleasant to deal with and will let us know if they have made other plans for meals following a game on their way home, but it’s been something I’ve done for years,” Lisa said.
The couple also knows that one of the biggest delights has been giving someone their first Pizza Palace experience.
“It’s delightful for them to encounter our deep dish or thin dish pizzas,” Rawley said. “We still have customers who order our thin crust pizza to be square cut, even though we shifted to pie cut a few years ago.”
“We have to say we have appreciated the support of the entire Mount Vernon and Lisbon community throughout the years,” Lisa said. “We’ve been small town business owners, and been proud to be a part of these communities.”
“Who wouldn’t want to be owners of a business in uptown Mount Vernon?” Rawley said. “We’ve hosted wedding rehearsal dinners, a meeting place after funerals, graduation celebrations and so much more. We know that people will drive up to an hour away for a quality restaurant, and within a 35-minute drive from Mount Vernon are 165,000 people who might make that trek.”
The couple does have a realtor lined up if they are unable to sell the business on their own. If you are interested in purchasing the business, contact the Alger’s to further discuss the opportunity.