The Duty family: (From left) Caleb, Roland, Susan, Ava Duty Sims (granddaughter), Mary, Hope and Justin. (Daughter Faith is not pictured.) (Photo by Rod Aydelotte)

Waco’s restaurant scene has experienced a multitude of openings and closings over the years. But Poppa Rollo’s, which promotes its zany atmosphere as much as its outstanding pizza, has become a local icon.

Since opening its doors at West Waco and North Valley Mills drives (next to an A&P grocery store and Kmart) in 1969, owner Roland Duty has been at the forefront of Waco’s passion for pizza. His future wife Mary joined Poppa Rollo’s a few years later, and they were married in 1979. That also was the year that Rollo’s moved to its current location, 703 N. Valley Mills Drive.

Photo by Rod Aydelotte

Roland and Mary attended Baylor University, and he was a student there when he entered the pizza business in 1964. Mary started working at Rollo’s while she was a graduate student.

Poppa Rollo’s has truly been a family business for the Dutys. Roland and Mary raised five children who spent plenty of time at the restaurant. Each of them remains involved with the business today.

Justin, the oldest of their children together, earned a food service license at age 9 and has continued to show a keen interest in the restaurant business. Susan, Caleb, Faith and Hope followed, and each are often at the restaurant. Roland has two other children, Ryan and Kevin, from a previous marriage.

“I was kind of a stay-at-home mom,” Mary said. “Of course, home was here at the restaurant. But I’d either watch the kids or one of the other employees would. It was really a blessing to be able to have them here with us at the business. We had five kids in eight years. It was great fun.”

Roland has only one thing to correct about Mary’s statement. “We don’t have employees,” he said. “We have paid volunteers.”

The Dutys want to make sure everyone at the restaurant, whether customer or “paid volunteer,” has a good time and enjoys the atmosphere. Sure, there’s work to be done. But Roland says its important that people like what they’re doing.

“This is a place to have a good time, to get together and enjoy,” he said. “We’ve been seeing a lot of the same people for two or three generations. We love what we do, and we want people to have a good time here.”

What Poppa Rollo’s does best is serve great pizza. The Dutys say being a family-owned restaurant allows them to cater more to their customers.

Poppa Rollo’s offers several seating areas with an eclectic decor.
Photo by Rod Aydelotte

“We use the best ingredients,” Roland said. “We don’t worry about answering to a corporate manager in another town. We want people to enjoy their experience to the fullest. We’re not about compromising to save a few dollars on ingredients.”

Among their best-selling items: specials loaded with toppings, and The Works, a favorite that even features shrimp.

For those looking for lighter fare, the eatery offers vegetarian pizza, and the Plantation Special. In cooperation with Waco’s Plantation Foods, that pizza features turkey toppings, which taste like pork but have less fat and cholesterol.

Another staple at Poppa Rollo’s is the entertainment. Old black and white movies starring comedians such as Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and Abbott and Costello are shown regularly. The Three Stooges and Little Rascals also are screened frequently.

Other areas of the restaurant show live sporting events. Three decades ago, Poppa Rollo’s was a frontrunner in that area.

“I heard they had big 7-foot TV screens in Boston, and I tried to get one for the restaurant,” Roland recalled. “They wouldn’t sell them except for corporate training and education. Finally, I heard they’d arrived in Dallas. I drove up and bought one. We had the first big screen TV at a restaurant in Waco, and the first one in a public place in Texas.”

Roland said Dallas Cowboy fans flocked to Rollo’s for a chance to see Roger Staubach quarterback America’s Team on the big screen. And when “Star Trek” reruns were shown, fans swarmed to the restaurant to see them.

“People had little TVs at the end of the bar, but nothing like that,” he said. “It was nice to be able to offer something new — people really enjoyed that.”

Roland and Mary’s roots in Central Texas run deep. Roland’s family arrived in northern Falls County in 1849. He grew up in Robinson and attended high school in Lorena. Mary grew up in Mount Calm in Hill County.

One of the passions the Dutys share is a love of history. Mary teaches eighth-graders at Tennyson Middle School. The Dutys also are avid genealogists.

A “paid volunteer” loads ingredients on a pizza. The Dutys want customers and workers alike to enjoy themselves at the restaurant.
Photo by Rod Aydelotte

Roland has traced his family history back for several generations. In fact, he had two relatives who served on opposite sides during the Civil War. One great-grandfather served in the 27th Louisiana Infantry, and another was part of the 106th Illinois Infantry.

Though the two may have been shooting at each other, both fortunately survived. Ironically, their grandchildren married.

Roland said that made for interesting times at family reunions.

And he continued that family heritage of military service. He graduated from officer candidate school and served in the Army National Guard. Part of his training including parachuting out of airplanes at Fort Benning, Ga.

The Dutys’ son Caleb is a U.S. Marine who has served in Iraq, including the hot-spot of Fallujah.

As a member of Blue Star Mothers, Mary strives to assist those who are serving in America’s military.

She recalled how food contractors in Iraq fled once fighting escalated, and military personnel had to take responsibility for preparing their own meals.

She said that’s another reason why she works to make sure items are sent to troops overseas.

“The Blue Star Mothers pack tuna, protein bars and other items to send to the troops,” she said. “It’s not just that sometimes they don’t get a hot meal. Sometimes, the MREs (field rations) don’t arrive because of supply problems.”

Roland said it was that certainty of getting a meal that led him to the restaurant business. And it’s the opportunity to meet a variety of people that’s kept the job entertaining.

Photo by Rod Aydelotte

“You never know who you’re going to meet, and it’s great to be a part of their lives,” he said. “We see the kids and grandkids of people who ate here when we first opened. That’s a great feeling.”

It’s a combination of good food, nostalgia and forward thinking that’s helped Poppa Rollo’s thrive.

Roland recalled that as a youth in 1957, when the Russians launched the Sputnik satellite that circled the earth, he predicted people would visit the moon in the future.

One of his teachers was so opposed to the thought of space travel that she bet Roland $500 that people would never walk on the moon.

“In July 1969, it happened,” he said. “I was in the process of buying a restaurant (Pepe’s Pizza, which became Poppa Rollo’s) for $5,000, and an extra $500 would have come in handy.”

But his former teacher was dying of cancer at the time, so the stakes of the bet were forgiven.

Nevertheless, the pizza business has been out of this world for the Duty family. Poppa Rollo’s bills itself as the “best pizza on earth,” and the restaurant’s popularity is a testament to quality, a fun atmosphere and a unique place among Waco’s array of dining places.

“We’re very honored by the fact that the restaurant has become a tourist attraction during the holidays,” Mary said. “There are a lot of places to eat, but when people are taking their relatives from out of town out to eat, they like to bring them to a place that’s different. We’re very blessed to have been in this business 40 years, and hopefully we have a lot more ahead of us.”

Roland agreed.

“Being in the restaurant business is the best business in the world,” he said. “We love being a part of people’s lives, of being a meeting place. It’s our goal for people to come in and have a great time. As long as the food and service are good, hopefully they’ll keep coming back.”

Poppa Rollo’s Pizza

703 N. Valley Mills Drive

11 a.m. to 11:45 p.m.

Monday through Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. Thursday, 11 a.m. to 12:45 a.m. Friday & Saturday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday.

www.popparollos.com

254-776-6776

Did you know?

• Poppa Rollo’s earned the 1994 Family Values Award, presented by Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business.

• Rollo’s was named 2007 Texas Family Business of the Year.

• The business is a perennial winner of the Waco Tribune-Herald Reader’s Poll’s “Best Pizza Restaurant.”

• A bar at Poppa Rollo’s once was part of a downtown Waco saloon in the 1870s, and was located on the downtown square until the 1950s. Pete Klaras’ business was damaged in the 1953 tornado that ravaged downtown.

He bought the bar to replace damaged property. Roland Duty purchased the bar in the 1970s, and was told it once was part of the Old Corner Drugstore, where Dr Pepper was invented.