MANSFIELD — Pizza lovers, rejoice. A new pizza concessions trailer by the name “The Happy Shack Pizza” has entered the local food scene.
The Happy Shack Pizza is owned and operated by Doug and Tammy Wertz. The Bellville couple work at the Mansfield Playhouse, where Doug is the artistic director and Tammy is the theater manager.
This new business venture was something the duo “kind of fell into,” Doug said. They had talked about it for years and finally put a plan into motion after coming up with some pizza recipes using Naan bread.
“One day I found this bread and was like, ‘I have to have this bread,'” Tammy said. “Then I made pizza with it and it was like the best pizza, and we thought other people would love it, too.”
Since the flatbread is already pre-baked, it only takes about four to five minutes for the pizzas to bake.
“What we’re basically doing is using our convection ovens to melt everything together,” Doug said.
Currently, the menu includes a cheese pizza, pepperoni pizza, and pepperoni veggie deluxe pizza. There’s also a line of dessert pizzas, including blueberry streusel, apple streusel, and cinnamon roll. Each pizza is personal-sized.
“We keep it simple because of our size and space,” Doug explained. “Eventually we do hope to grow this to where we can get into a bigger trailer, something that will allow us to expand our menu.”
Tammy is responsible for coming up with the recipes. “We’ve done a lot of research over the last few months,” Doug said with a laugh. “The good news is that we haven’t tired of anything that we’ve made.”
The Happy Shack made its debut at an event in Brunswick on June 29 after about six weeks of prep work.
The name was inspired by their bright yellow trailer. “This trailer, I look at it and it just makes me happy,” Doug said.
The Wertzes receive some help with the business from their two teenage sons, Evan and Cameron.
“They love it,” Tammy said. “At our first event, they didn’t even let me in my own trailer. They took over, so I got to sit outside and listen to the great music next to us.”
Doug, who has some experience in food concessions, was able register the trailer for a number of events this summer, despite being told that they shouldn’t anticipate getting into any festivals their first year.
“We’ve booked ourselves almost every weekend between now and the beginning of September,” Tammy said.
The Happy Shack is scheduled to make an appearance at A Taste of Mansfield and the Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival this August. The food trailer will also attend the Country Jam Festival at Legend Valley/Buckeye Lake on Sept. 2 and 3, which is expected to draw about 30,000 people.
“We tried not to book anything that’s more than an hour away,” Tammy said.
To stay updated on when and where The Happy Shack will be, visit its Facebook page.
