photograph by michael donahue
Gary Garlington has his hands full as the owner of the popular Memphis Pizza Café.
Gary Garlington is known as ‘The Pizza Guy’ — but he could have wound up as ‘The Computer Guy.’ Garlington is owner/founder of Memphis Pizza Café, which opened in 1993 in Overton Square and now has four locations. “We’ve been blessed a million times to stand the test of time,” he says.
He turned to the pizza business because he loathed his other job, saying, “I’m a disgruntled computer programmer.”
A native of Little Rock, Garlington worked for three years for Texas Instruments in Dallas. He had enjoyed working for US Pizza Co. in Little Rock when he was 16, so when he considered a career change, he weighed either opening a pizza restaurant or a landscaping business.
He moved to Memphis in 1992 to work as a bartender for the old TGI Fridays in Overton Square, back in the days when the Square included bars and restaurants like Silky’s, Rascal’s, and Gonzales’ & Gertrude’s. “We had a wild time,” he recalls.\
Garlington has enjoyed his Memphis Pizza Cafe ride. “When you flip on that ‘Open’ sign, you’re not guaranteed anybody’s going to come in. But they’ve accepted us and welcomed us.”
Also, at that time people could drink when they were 18 in Memphis, as opposed to 21 in Little Rock. “My brain started working,” he says, so he gathered together some investors and opened the first Memphis Pizza Cafe at 2097 Madison, where Golden India is now located. They moved to their current location a few doors down, at 2087 Madison, in 1995 after the death of China Grill chef/owner Bernard Chang.
photograph by andrew geraci
The author never really stops working.
Garlington didn’t want a fast-food pizza restaurant. “We didn’t want to deliver,” he says. “We wanted to have a sit-down cafe.”
He also wanted a place with the same vibe as the Cheers TV show, with regulars who ate there “multiple times a week.”
That concept didn’t take off right away. “We weren’t busy at first,” he says. “It wasn’t a get-rich-quick story. But we saw a lot of slow and steady growth for a year and a half.”
What really helped business was when they were invited to participate in the Zoo Rendezvous fundraiser for the Memphis Zoo the same year they opened. “Sales took off,” he says.
In 1995, Garlington learned about a vacancy on Park Avenue and opened his second Memphis Pizza Cafe location in May 1995. He followed that with his Germantown location in November 1997.
A fourth location near Wolfchase Mall was next, but that one only lasted five years. They also opened cafés in Collierville and Southaven, but closed the Mississippi location after their lease expired.
All Memphis Pizza Cafe restaurants have a “Memphis theme,” Garlington says. “We don’t really have a lot of pictures of Elvis, but we have Lamar Sorento’s cool rock-and-roll art.”
The Madison location features Sorento paintings of Elvis, but it also has one the artist made of the Beatles. Bumper stickers featuring a range of Memphis topics cover the kitchen range hood.
They tried live music on Monday nights when they first opened, and the Gin Blossoms were recording across the street at Ardent Studios. “Guitarist Robin Wilson would come over and hang out on the patio and listen to music,” he says. “We asked if he could play but his management wouldn’t let him.”
Even so, local singer/songwriter Chris Gavin “got local people in. We tried it for six months or so, but staying open late for music wasn’t for us.”
As for the food, Garlington says, “It’s pretty much the same menu. We haven’t enjoyed a lot of creativity over the years.”
But people have their favorites, including the popular Buffalo Chicken. Memphis Pizza Cafe also sells pizza by the slice, which is “a huge advantage at lunch when people want pizza, but don’t want to spend $15 to $20 on a whole pie.”
In addition to pizzas, the restaurant offers salads, sandwiches, calzones, and beer.
Over the years Garlington thought about expanding to Nashville and Jackson, Tennessee, but those ideas never materialized. As for future plans for his restaurants, he says, “We’re going to sell them at the end of 2027.”
He’s hoping to offer them to his general managers. Three out of those four have worked for him for 20 years, he says. It will be the right time for him to sell, Garlington says. He’ll be 65 and his daughter will have graduated from high school. “That will be time to hang it up.”
Besides, he has other interests. He wants to spend time working with his race horses. His thoroughbred filly, Almostgone Rocket, ran May 3rd in the race that followed the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. “She won the race,” he says. “Even came in first.”
Garlington has enjoyed his Memphis Pizza Cafe ride. “When you flip on that ‘Open’ sign, you’re not guaranteed anybody’s going to come in. But they’ve accepted us and welcomed us.”
Like the longtime customer who comes in for pizza three days a week. “It’s just been a dream ride for me,” he says.
Memphis Pizza Café is located at 2087 Madison Avenue and 5061 Park Avenue in Memphis, 7604 W. Farmington in Germantown, and 797 W. Poplar in Collierville.
