Rhombus House of Pizza

Address:

110 Garfield Ave N, Mentor, MN 56736

Phone:

(218) 637-2198

Payment:

Nice to Know:

Noise Level Average

Other Details:

Matt Winjum and Arron Hendricks conceived of Rhombus in the spring of 2002. However, at this time the Rhombus name had not yet been discovered. The original plan was to build a smoothy stand atop of a snowmobile trailer. As Matt and Arron began constructing the stand with the help of their friends, they quickly discovered that this was going to be quite the project for two eighteen year old kids. After weeks of pounding, hammering, screwing, millions of daily trips to the hardware store, and a lot of head scratching, Arron stood back; and looked at the nearly completed stand. As he looked at the stand with friends standing near, Arron noticed something peculiar. The stand was not the 8 foot cube that it was intended. Arron exclaimed, This thing isn't square at all. It's more like a rhombus. There and then, Smoothy Rhombus was born. Their first summer operating the stand was definitely a learning process. They had a lot of fun traveling t o fairs, festivals, and luncheons. Life was great. Two eighteen year olds working for themselves, making money (albeit a small amount of money), but it was time to back to college. Arron was off to the University of Minnesota TC, and Matt to Arizona State University. The next summer was even better. They had tripled their sales from the previous summer, and the Rhombus Guys were gaining confidence in their abilities as businessmen. This summer they had also brought on long time friend, Levi Kraft, as partner. The trio would spend twelve hour days inside that tiny little stand together, and while it was a success, they knew that they needed to expand. The Rhombus guys spent a lot of time in the Maple Lake area, so in the winter of 2001 when a nearby restaurant was for sale they jumped at the opportunity. Money was, of course, an issue. But as they say: where there is a will, there is a way. In the spring of 2004, Levi, Matt, and Arron worked at a fever pitch between the end of the school year and the beginning of summer. They needed their new and 'spacious' restaurant to be open by Memorial day if they wanted to catch the onset of the busy season. It was. Enter Rhombus House of Pizza. Times were good from the start. Employing a small staff and working a million hours a week, the three were able to keep costs to a minimum. This is not to say things went perfectly, however. You see; the three had very minimal experience making pizzas, and the first few months were definitely a learning experience. They still did a couple fairs, and business at them skyrocketed due to the name recognition they had built. By the end of the summer, they had shown marked improvement. Being in a lake environment meant that the busy season was over by Labor Day, so they closed shop for the winter; and went back to school. The next summer proved to be great for Levi, Matt, and Arron. They were much better at their craft. Early in the summer, they called the Grand Forks Herald to see if they might be interested in doing an article on the three (during the first summer a number of local papers printed articles). It turned out the Herald was interested. Ronna Johnson interviewed them, and they made the very first page. Business skyrocketed, and there was no looking back. The Rhombus Guys worked furiously to finish up school that year. They had big plans. Over the winter they had secured a spot in a new strip mall in their hometown of Thief River Falls to be opened in the fall of 2004. After another summer at Rhombus House of Pizza, the three were set to open Caf Rhombus. This was to be a much larger restaurant offering their pizzas as well as entrees, sandwiches, burgers, and more. After doing much of the construction work themselves, (they were more experienced carpenters by this point, but not much) they opened, and were very busy. They had their ups and downs, however. Their youthful inexperience, at times, worked against them, but they were always eager to learn and continue to work a million hours each and

Pizza, Restaurants

Other Businesses: