Joe Bologna’s Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria has been a Lexington staple for 50 years, ever since Joe Bologna launched the restaurant in 1971. Bologna had honed his culinary skills working and managing other restaurants, cooking for as many as 3,000 when he worked as a cook in the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam and later for some high-profile military generals.

After working in restaurants that made up to $1 million a year, Bologna opened his own restaurant at the corner of Maxwell and Limestone, near the University of Kentucky’s campus. In his first week, Bologna recalls making 40 pizzas and bringing in $635. A few students who were some of his first customers promised they’d tell all their friends to come try a slice or two, and so they did. The restaurant grew 19% week-over-week in its first two years.