Serving the Underserved

When Dennis Johnson opened a Pizza Ranch in Minnesota, he hoped to serve the nearby Native American communities in more ways than one.

- CARL STOFFERS

Many things make Bemidji, Minnesota, a special place. Among them: It's the central city for three Native American reservations, it's the northernmost city connected to the Mississippi River, and it's where the folklore figure Paul Bunyan was supposedly born. But according to an entrepreneur in the area, it was sorely lacking something important: Pizza Ranch, a buffet restaurant that's thriving in the Midwest.