Pizza Pete Crosses Generations with Unique Taste and Hard Work

It’s construction season, and LaGrange Road is going thru an expansion project that seems to last for miles.  The traffic is at a steady speed of slow. Inch by inch cars maneuver thru two lanes just trying to make it to their destination.  

For some, that destination is .

“It’s worth the traffic…and the rain,” a rushed customer said as he leaves with his order.

Loyal customers don’t mind traveling for a slice of their favorite Pizza Pete creation.  

On a quarterly basis owner Debbie Mattes sends frozen pizza to Michigan for a customer whose husband grew up on the pies. She recently filled an order for a group traveling to Florida who wanted to take some pizza along.  Generations of customers who were going to Pete’s, now in their 70’s, frequent their LaGrange Road location. 

“We still have customers from Old Orland come in,” Mattes said “They remember my parents.”  

The tradition of Pete’s started on Union Avenue’s Antique Row in Orland Park.  Jack and Carol Mattes bought into the Pizza Pete franchise in 1970.  At the time there were 17 locations in the surrounding suburbs.  While others buyers changed the name, the Mattes family kept the name and the secret sauce recipe, and in 1972 moved to 14342 S. LaGrange Road becoming Orland’s first pizza restaurant.  They have been a part of the community ever since. 

Debby is the second generation Mattes to run the restaurant and is determined to keep her family business and precious memories alive. The school bus used to drop her off at the restaurant and she’d go to the desk in the back to complete her homework. That desk is still at the Pizza Pete restaurant but Mattes is now using it to run the place, as her parents did before her. 

“We wanted to have our restaurant here (on LaGrange Road) because it’s a prime location,” Mattes said. “Now we’re just trying to make it through the construction.”  

Mattes plans to stick with what her parents taught her to get through the season.

“My parents went through several recessions and we’ve survived,” Mattes said. “They made it work with blood, sweat and tears. They put in a lot of hours and made it work.”

With loyal customers and a proven business plan, Mattes is confident they will last.

The fresh ingredients and the secret spices in the sauce slowly work together to create a Pizza Pete special.  Between the smell and the unique three-tier stove they cook pizzas in, the restaurant fosters curiosity. 

“Not a lot of places have that type of stove,” Mattes says.  “When you make a pizza here you’re really learning how to cook because you have to pay special attention to the timing and the details.” 

While the menu has expanded from four sizes of pizza and a sausage sandwich to dinners, pasta, fish and shrimp the one thing that has never changed is the crust.

“We are known by our thin and crisp pizza. That will never change,” she said. 

However, fried chicken is growing in popularity on their menu. 

“It’s our best kept secret,” Mattes said.  “We have the best chicken around.  Once (customers) try it they are hooked.  Our breading is really good and we buy local.  We always try to keep things within Orland Park.  We always support the community.” 

Participating in community events and staying true to old family values is one reason the community continues to accept Pizza Pete with open arms.