"Wall of Fame" Franchise Owner Profile: Noreen Hale

Noreen Hale is the owner of a Nick-N-Willy's in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In our franchise family, she is what many would consider a superstar franchise owner.

For Noreen, the dream of opening a pizza restaurant began soon after the events of 9/11. The enormous tragedy which rocked the nation, really hit home for Noreen. Her husband was working as a pilot and the aftershock of 9/11 made them think they needed to make some changes in their lives. For Noreen, that change would mean working closer to home and building a business their young family could grow with.

So in 2004, Noreen and her husband chose to partner with the Nick-N-Willy's Franchise Company and make their entrepreneurial dreams come true. Noreen says they absolutely loved the pizza and were sold on the take-n-bake concept. Noreen was savvy enough to know though that it was going to take alot more than just a great product to make her franchise successful.

She was going to need to get her pizza into as many people's mouths as possible through promotions, special events and community programs.

And that's just want she did. Since she opened, Noreen's been actively involved in her community with groups like Special Olympics Wisconsin and the local high schools. Most recently, she participated in Kenosha’s Great Pizza Bake-Off in the support of the Boys and Girls Club. She even managed to win the most votes in her category and her restaurant was honoured as Kenosha’s Best Local Pizza Chain for the sixth year in a row! ( To read the full article in the Kenosha News click here: http://tinyurl.com/yzop23k

Noreen is also proud to have helped to raise over $200,000 for a range of different non-profit groups through her fundraising card program. The chain-wide program works by selling the pizza gift certificates to non-profits for just $1. The cards are then re-sold as part of a fundraising campaign for $10, allowing for a profit of $9 on each card sold. Outside of fundraising, Noreen is also active in many school programs. Most recently, she participated in Pleasantary School’s (TNT) “Try New Things” workshop where she presented on nutrition – because pizza can be nutritious – especially at Nick-N-Willy’s!

It helps that Noreen has an education in public relations and therefore, understands the value of relationship building in the community. She also used to work as a teacher and TV personality so training her team of employees and acting as a mentor has been a natural fit! She's proud to be the “mother” to a large team of employees many of them who have stayed with her from high school through to college. As an added bonus, both her sons have taken an interest in her business and are the backbone of her staff.

If you live in the Kenosha area or are ever passing through, please make sure to stop in at Nick-N-Willy's at 7435 117th Ave on Hwy 50 and pay a visit to Noreen and her team!