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This book follows the adventures of a novice businessman when he became the first franchisee of Pizza Hut in 1959. His trial and error start-up operation had many chances for failure,but he eventually progressed into being a seasoned successful entrepreneur. He finally owned and operated 150 Pizza Huts in 14 states plus Canada and Mexico.

 As the first franchisee of Pizza Hut, Dick Hassur had a very slow opening period as he opened his first store in Topeka, Kansas.His weekly sales  during this early period averaged $1,200 per week when his break-even point was $1,500. He had begun his new business with a loan of $6,000 and had no way of getting more funds. He realized that he could not avoid bankruptcy unless his sales greatly increased. His early problem was that he could not afford to install a second rest room which was a state requirement in order to get a beer license, and most customers expected to drink beer with their pizza, plus he was aware that a good dose of advertising would surely bring in customers.

           As his sixth month anniversary arrived, he awoke to find a snow fall of about two feet and all roads just barely passable. He finally got to his store, and with a dreaded realization, knew that he could not continue without a big increase in sales. He opened a letter from his landlord's attorney which was an eviction notice unless he could correct his back three month rent due by the end of the month. His first thought was that he would just close-up and go back to Wichita. But, what kind of a future.would he have after the impending bankruptcy. His only opportunity was to continue to operate, except he would do what was necessary to bring in more customers. He called a plumber and agreed to pay the four hundred dollars to install a second rest-room. He had seen an ad for a new radio station in town that was offering to air one hundred ads per month for one hundred dollars, they called it "dollar a holler"  He signed-up for a three month run of ads. Of course, he could not pay these new expenses unless his plan was successful. He was certain that  these new additions would be exactly what he had needed from the very beginning. The following month, his store made $2,000, and following months brought the store average to more than $2,500 per month. His new debts were paid on time   That $30,000 per year is close to a current value of $150,000  He knew that he had become a true entrepreneur.

Pie in the Sky: Adventures of a Pizza Hut Entrepreneur