From Rothsay to your freezer
A small-town restaurant, hundreds of inventive pizzas, and a fundraising idea built for community groups.
The restaurant years helped turn a quirky local idea into a regional frozen-food favorite.
Long before pizzas were served from Ole & Lena’s Pizzeria, Rothsay, Minnesota was home to Norwegian immigrants who probably never pictured their prized hotdish casseroles on a pizza. Ole & Lena, however, have always been inventive cooks.
After a year and a half of remodeling one of the town’s oldest buildings, Shane Balken opened Ole & Lena’s Pizzeria. Hundreds of unexpected pizza concoctions came through the oven, and the “Finest Norwegian-Italian restaurant” found its specialty-pizza niche.
Ole & Lena’s frozen pizzas reached local grocery stores and fundraising organizations, turning restaurant favorites into products groups could sell throughout the region.
After twelve years in the restaurant business, the original Rothsay location was sold so the frozen-food and fundraising program could become the full-time focus from Fergus Falls, Minnesota.
The next chapter
