Pizza place opens on Furman Drive
By Angie Landsverk
Adam Lambert planned to be a police officer, but became a Domino’s Pizza franchisee instead.
“I went to school to be a cop,” he said. “I had no dreams, desire to be a business owner.”
Lambert was nearing completion of an associate degree in criminal justice and working at a steakhouse when he got the opportunity to work at a Domino’s Pizza.
“It was 15 months from the time I was managing to owning,” he said. “Domino’s Pizza is super family friendly.”
Lambert and his wife Bobbi were expecting their second child when they bought their first store in 2002.
The store was in Ishpeming, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
They are natives of Escanaba.
When they got married in 1999, she told him, “I’m never moving north.”
However, they found themselves at a point where they needed to make a decision after the Ishpeming store became available in 2002.
That is because there had been no police officer opportunities for Lambert.
“We do everything together. We were together with the idea of franchising,” he said. “We prayed about it together.”
An hour after making their decision, Lambert received a call and offer from a sheriff’s department.
But the couple never looked back.
“It was a solid company that was going places,” she said.
Late last year, they opened a Domino’s Pizza in Waupaca.
It is their 10th location.
“We’d been trying to get in Waupaca since 2015. We knew we wanted to be on this end of town,” he said.
That same year, Lambert said to Bobbi, “We need to either sell or grow.”
For years, they had three stores.
In 2015, they bought stores in New London, Marinette and Shawano.
The following year, they bought stores in Berlin and Ripon.
“It’s between Berlin and New London,” he said of their desire to open one in Waupaca.
He said the company’s corporate office looks at demographics and traffic, which is why he knew they wanted to be on Waupaca’s west side.
Lambert told city officials they were looking for property.
Last year, they found space at 970 Furman Drive, next door to Anytime Fitness.
During the six weeks of construction, they did not advertise the fact the space was being transformed into a Domino’s Pizza.
They did a soft opening at 10 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 3.
“The first day we were open, we told people to just drive around,” he said.
The store features the company’s latest theater style design.
“Every day is a party,” Lambert says. “We want our customers to come in and enjoy the pizza-making process. We just want to show you what we’re doing.”
In addition, the menu includes pasta, salads, sandwiches, specialty chicken, breadsticks, chicken wings and desserts.
Their store in Waupaca is open from 10:30 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday and from 10:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday. It may be reached at 715-544-8400.
In addition to ordering in person or by phone, he said there are numerous other ways to order.
That includes through Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Domino’s Zero Click Ordering app, smart watches and at dominos.com.
People may call ahead to time an order.
With more than 200 employees, Lambert said he has three “really good supervisors,” allowing him to focus on growth and planning.
They employ about 18 to 25 people in each store and are looking to hire employees here and at their other locations.
Last April, they also built a store in Gladstone. That is near Escanaba, where they live with their three children.
Their 18-year-old daughter, 15-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter help out at there.
“Our goal is to continue to grow and expand stores (in the Upper Peninsula and Wisconsin),” he said. “We plan to build six more stores in the next three years in various areas. With that expansion, strong leadership is needed.”
They enjoy traveling with their children and doing mission work as a family.
Their church helps them keep their life together balanced and in perspective.
“What it boils down to,” Lambert said, “is serving others and doing the best you can.”