William Theisen

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William Theisen, who goes by the nickname "Willy", is a restaurant entrepreneur from Omaha, Nebraska. He is the founder of Godfathers Pizza, a popular pizzeria chain that has locations in over 40 states. Theisen got the idea to start a pizza chain when he was running his own bar and grill called "Wild Willys." He noticed many of the customers liked the pizza and he decided to take it into its own restaurant. The first Godfathers opened in 1973. Many locations opened throughout the country and Theisen looked to have a hit on his hands. He sold his interest and ownership in the company in the mid 1980's to Pillsbury and stepped down from operating the company. Pillsbury has long since sold the restaurant chain.

Since then, Theisen owns and runs franchises of many other national restaurants, including Fuddruckers, Green Burrito and Famous Dave's.