Friday, December 21, 2001
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Friday, December 21, 2001 |
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Partners II Pizza owners inviting former employees back for reunion Thursday By JOHN
MUNFORD
At Partners II Pizza in Peachtree City, owners Marilyn and Jim Royal have been surrounded with high school and college-age youths who cook, serve and wash dishes. And while they're the backbone behind the service at Partners, the kids are also part of the fun, according to Marilyn and her husband Jim, co-owners of the landmark establishment. So as Partners' 25th anniversary approaches in January, the Royals are inviting back former employees for a big bash at the restaurant Thursday, Dec. 27, at 6 p.m. When Partners opened in 1977, there were about 10 employees and it became the job for teens in Peachtree City because at the time it was the largest employer of youths, Jim Royal said. Now, there are 85 employees, most of whom come from local high schools, and it's possible for some to make up to $15 an hour on a good night. The Royals estimate that over 1,500 different youths have worked for their pizza joint over the years. The continuing popularity of the business among teenage job-seekers might also have to do with what Jim Royal calls his management style. "My philosophy is I let 'em screw around when it's slow," Royal said. "Because when things get busy they need to hustle, and they do." In the beginning, when the business was growing along with then-tiny Peachtree City, to get a job at Partners you had to be a brother or sister of an employee, Jim Royal recalled. "We had kids 12 and 13 years old who would put their application in so they could be on the waiting list," he remembered. Among the Partners alumnus are three lawyers "I don't hold responsibility for that," Jim Royal claims. In correspondence with the Royals about the reunion, a number of former employees recalled Jim's stern demeanor whenever he had to call an employee into his office for discipline. One employee refereed to it as "the immortal Jim Royal stare." Another recalled being "hauled in" for a little fatherly advice from Royal. But the Royals agree, the past 24 years and counting have been a blast, largely due to the kids who they agree have kept them young. "I can't imagine working with adults," Marilyn Royal said. And to think that Partners success, in recent years due to the "Baked Potato Pizza," came about all because Jim Royal came to then-tiny Peachtree City looking for a job in 1976. He saw the space for lease at the Aberdeen Shopping Center, had a pizza oven back in his garage, and decided to make a go of it. And the Royals have never looked back. "I remember that Tuesday afternoon we opened," Royal said. "I said we've got to open tonight, because I'm out of money." They did $800 in business that night, catching him by surprise and starting Peachtree City's longest running restaurant.
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