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July 23. 2010 8:43AM

The “ranch hands” at Brandon Pizza Ranch have proven to be the pizza chain’s best.
And to recognize the honor, the 78-member “Crew of the Year” staff has each been rewarded with a new, custom-made pair of Nike shoes, valued at $133.

The Brandon “ranch hands” were named the “Crew of the Year” at the company’s recent convention in Wisconsin Dells, Wis. With the honor, Pizza Ranch is investing nearly $10,000 in the crew through the purchase of Pizza Ranch-branded Nike shoes.

“The Brandon restaurant’s crew consistently demonstrates our motto to ‘Be legendary’ with their selflessness, extraordinary guest service, and exceptional food,” said Ardie Groeneweg, co-founder and president of Pizza Ranch, Inc. “The ‘Crew of the Year’ honor shows our sincere appreciation for their outstanding effort.”

The location’s crew members and managers have shaped the restaurant into a favorite for local families, school groups and other community organizations during Pizza Ranch’s 20-plus years in Brandon.

“Commitment, attitude and awareness are just some of the many positive qualities that our crew brings to the table each day,” said Darrell Vander Esch, co-owner of Brandon’s Pizza Ranch. “Our team members have made a commitment to each other and to every guest that walks through the door – and it shows.”

The “Crew of the Year” award has the restaurant’s owners and staff beaming with pride.

“It’s such an overwhelming feeling to receive this award and to see the joy on the kids’ faces,” said Aaron Hansen, a partner in the Brandon restaurant. “The hard work that we put in every shift, this just shows there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Hansen and manager Preston Plautz, who nominated their Brandon crew, said they were confident in their staff, of which 90 percent of the 78-members is teenagers.
“The biggest thing,” Plautz said, “is they might be teenagers, but when they get here, they put on a different face and be the people that make our customers and friends feel at home.”

Hansen, who got his start with the Pizza Ranch organization at age 16 washing dishes, adds, “There’s not a lot of groups of kids (like this) that come through here annually, and I really felt I have a bunch of kids that understand and bought into what we do. We spend a lot of time, my partners and I, with really trying to develop better methods of training.”

The restaurant’s extra training efforts were noticed by the panel of judges who reviewed nominations from Pizza Ranch locations contending for the award. Regularly one of the top performing restaurants in the Pizza Ranch chain, the Brandon store noted several measured improvements on its nomination form for the award, including comment card scores, secret shopper scores, employee survey results and store evaluations.

“It’s exciting,” Plautz said of the award, “but I wouldn’t really say I was shocked. With 150 stores, our shot was just as good as anyone. We just followed the path they set us on and it was good enough to get us where we’re at.”

The award did come as a surprise to its unsuspecting crew, however.

Hansen and Plautz didn’t tell their staff they’d nominated them, and when the announcement was made, they kept it quiet for as long as they possibly could.
“That only lasted two days, and then they heard about it,” Hansen said.

The announcement, Hansen said, has created quite a stir among the staff.

Employee Kory Scholten was still buzzing about the shoe reward a few weeks after the award was revealed. “It’s an honor and this shoe thing is a pretty cool aspect (of the award),” he said.

“It’s a team effort,” adds co-worker Tony Anderson.

Adam Zabih is one of the first to receive the custom-made shoes that sport “PR” and the words “Legendary Crew” on them. Zabih said accepting the reward was easy, but choosing colors for his pair of shoes from a pallet of 20 or more colors, was difficult.
He settled on his two favorite colors: yellow and black.

Hansen and his staff don’t plan to rest on their laurels. They’ve already set their sights on repeating the feat next year, and this year’s shoe reward is the motivating factor.
“For me, it sets the bar just a little higher for next year,” Hansen said. “I don’t think there’s ever been a repeat store of the year, but our goal is to repeat.”
While Hansen and staff put in the hard work it takes to be named the “Crew of the Year,” they also credit some of their success to the community they serve.

“This community has been awesome to us,” Hansen said. “We can’t say enough about Brandon.”

Pizza Ranch in Brandon, 202 Splitrock Blvd., is open for lunch and dinner Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.