Home Slice Pizza celebrates 20 years with the return of ‘Carnival O’ Pizza’

The video attached to this story originally aired on Feb. 18, 2024.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin’s Home Slice Pizza turns 20 this month, and will bring back its birthday celebration — the Carnival O’ Pizza — on Nov. 15.

The restaurant was founded by Jen Strickland, Terri Buis and Joseph Strickland, who opened their first location at 1415 South Congress Ave. in 2005. Jen Strickland told KXAN that she might not have expected for the business to make it to 20, but she certainly hoped for it.

“It’s kind of unbelievable. I can’t believe 20 years have gone by like, in the blink of an eye,” Jen Strickland said. “Super, super, super great feeling to have the support of the city, our customers and employees for this long, it’s really great.”

The three founders still own the business, which expanded to open a takeout location on South Congress Avenue, and dine-in locations on Austin’s North Loop and in Houston (3701 Travis St.).

All businesses face challenges in their operations, and Home Slice Pizza hasn’t been immune to them. But for Jen, they’ve felt more manageable with the experience she’s gained over the years.

“In the beginning, they were little things, but we didn’t have the experience to know how they would play out,” she said. “And I would just take it so personally, like if somebody quit who I really liked a lot or if something broke … it was just really hard to take.”

Home Slice also weathered the COVID-19 pandemic. It also weathered the changes, growth and cultural shifts of Austin.

“There’s a lot more competition in the pizza world, and (we) definitely welcome it because I love all kinds of pizza,” she said. “If they’re great, it just inspires us to be better and be great.”

In 2006, the business decided to hold a “Carnival O’ Pizza” to celebrate its first year in business. It also used the event as a fundraiser for the nonprofit Big Brothers Big Sisters. It held the carnivals annually for several years until 2016, with Jen noting that the business was opening one of its other locations that year.

“We were like, let’s throw a party that we made it through for a year. I mean, we didn’t know what we were doing, really, so it was really felt like a monumental event to be around for one year,” Jen Strickland said.

The carnival returns on Nov. 15, and will raise funds for Foundation Communities. At the event, Home Slice Pizza will bring back several competitions from prior years.

“Get ready for an action-packed, family-friendly event featuring Home Slice exclusive games … we’re also bringing back the legendary Hands on an Eggplant Sub (H.O.E.S.) challenge, along with box-folding, dough-tossing, and of course, PIZZA EATING competitions!” reads the event’s description.

In order to compete, prospective contenders will need to sign up online. Sign-ups end on Nov. 14.

Jen Strickland told KXAN what her message to Austin would be:

“Thank you so much for being our customers, and being understanding and bringing your friends in, like it’s just been so great. Hospitality is really central to our business, even on top of the food and so it makes us feel so happy to be able to offer hospitality to our customers. We just want to thank them so much for helping keep us around for this long. It’s really pretty amazing and I hope that everyone wants to stop by the carnival.”