Coming to Johnson County: This iconic pizza restaurant from Nebraska
Valentino’s Pizza — a popular brand in Nebraska — is opening its first location in the Kansas City area.
The pizza restaurant is coming to Overland Park at 8909 W. 135th St.
The pickup and delivery location is replacing Tex-Mex delivery service Fajita Pete’s.
Travis Sorensen hopes to have the location open by the Super Bowl.
“We wanna build a community of people that are excited about Valentino’s, and that’s what we’re excited about,” Sorensen said. “Our pizza is piled heavy with ingredients, and it’s a great Midwestern pizza.”
Valentino’s started in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1957. It has locations across the state and is the official pizza of the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers. Its slices are sold at Husker sports games and a physical location is inside Nebraska’s Student Union.
At one time, Valentino’s had several buffet locations. The last buffet closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Valentino’s is primarily in Nebraska, it has one spot in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
While Sorensen and his business partner, Mike Yeggy, hope to open more Valentino’s locations in the KC metro, they’re focusing on the first Overland Park location and going from there.
He hopes the brand becomes just as big in Kansas as it is in its home state.
“First impressions are everything, so I wanna make sure that we are really customer focused,” Sorensen said. “If people come in and have a slice of our pizza … I think they’re gonna go bonkers.”