Surprisingly, customers continued to order pizza, encouraging Jon and Bill to develop and refine a quality pizza recipe, eventually resulting in the great tasting classic Dion’s pizza you enjoy today.
At Dion’s, we owe much of our success to several fundamental rules established in the beginning from which we operate today:
- Always use the finest ingredients.
- Never change ingredients simply to get the cheapest price.
- Only serve pizza, salads and submarine sandwiches that we are proud of.
- Hire the best people.
- Promote team players and cooperation.
- Give the customer exceptional quality, service, cleanliness and a teamwork environment.
Our system seems to be working. We have received several awards over the years for our quality of pizza. The first recognition came in November of 1979, only nineteen months after opening our first location. The Albuquerque Tribune named Dion’s "second best pizza in town." This would be our last second place finish. Since then, Dion’s has been voted "Best Pizza" in Albuquerque several times by the Albuquerque Journal, Albuquerque Tribune and Albuquerque The Magazine. Dion’s was also named "Best Pizza" by television’s PM Magazine in March of 1984. We received the title of "Best Pizza" by Albuquerque Monthly Magazine from 1989 through its last year of publication in 1996. In 2008 and 2009 we were voted Best of the City by the readership of Albuquerque the Magazine.
Dion’s is a family-oriented business. Our restaurants do not serve alcohol. Viewing stands enable children to watch pizza as it is being made. Tours are given to community children Monday through Friday; approximately 13,500 children tour Dion’s restaurants each year.
Dion’s has grown from one employee in 1978, 12 employees in 1979, to over 1,200 employees today. At Dion’s we promote a good working environment for all of our employees. Many people form lasting friendships while working for us. Dion’s service is geared toward families, so we hire clean cut, active individuals, most of whom are high school or college age. Dion’s is willing to work around busy employee schedules and encourages employees to be involved in community activities.
Because all Dion’s cooking is done from scratch, the company has an extensive training program for both new employees and upper management, to ensure that our quality is consistent. Dion’s trains its employees and promotes from within. Upper management is mainly comprised of older and experienced employees. Evaluations are given to all employees and managers; praise and bonuses are given frequently. Employees are regarded with respect and their concerns are taken seriously. Profit sharing and many career paths are offered to Dion’s employees.
Because Patten and Scott believe that everyone should be treated fairly, from every customer to their employees and suppliers, they strive to form long lasting relationships with all the people they deal with in business.
For the future, Dion’s is planning to expand its presence in New Mexico and Texas and in other out-of-state markets. This will enable Dion’s to work towards our life long goal of worldwide pizza domination by the year 3000!