Ruckus 1 - In the Beginning

The most asked question about Ruckus Pizza is how did it get it's name. It's actually Ruckus Pizza and Bar - but most people shorten it to Ruckus Pizza or Ruckus. It really doesn't go together - but once you find Ruckus Pizza - It really does go together. Ashley and I had decided to open our own little pizza bar. We were tired of the same old bars on Hillsborough Street where none of the bartenders or owners knew or cared to know your name. We wanted to open a Cheers with Woody, Sam, Norm, Cliff et al. The 1st course of business was deciding on a theme. Lots of bars are built around sports and we didn't want a sports theme although we wanted TV's to show all our Wolfpack games and NFL. Ashley and I are Wolfpack grads and we bleed RED! We are drawn to beaches like moths to a flame.  I grew up in Jacksonville, NC (Emerald Isle in the Summers) and she grew up in Virginia Beach, VA. Love the Beach so it was decided that people love to crack a cold one wherever there are palm trees - thus the Palm Tree theme. Ruckus used to have a lot more nautical and Key West paraphernalia.  I liked it but it slowly was replaced. Now What to name it - That's a hard one. Names really can tell a lot about a business - some names don't and I think are part of the problem. I'm a big fan of  - It does what it Says.  If it quacks like a duck - It must be a duck. We were really struggling with this. A lot of the names we came up with then escape me now but the name came to us skiing at Snowshoe, WV. Ashley and I and some of the partners went skiing at Snowshoe and had a great time. As we were looking around the resort for things to do we came upon an area called Ruckus Ridge. I didn't know what it was but it sounded like fun.  It turned out to be the Snow Tubing area for Snowshoe. Sounded like fun so we went and had a blast. I proposed Ruckus Pizza because we were sure we would cause a Ruckus.  And it would have great pizza. The name was settled and the theme was settled and the rest would fall into place through hard work, luck and the staff and friends who would grace our lives at Ruckus Pizza and Bar. We had/have a good time. Our kids grew up there We had GREAT outdoor parties And we had Girls on the bar dancing all the time. Sometimes even free upside down margarita shots. Boy those were fun days.  Growing up in Ruckus was GREAT! And Time Passed.....