A LI'L RESTAURANT. A BIG BILLINGS STORY.

Richard and Beverly opened the original Li'l Peetzas at 1016 Grand Avenue on April 14, 1976. They did it without a background in food service, while raising a young family and learning the restaurant business in real time.

The restaurant and family life quickly became one and the same. Bev kept the books. Rich worked the front. The kids grew up close enough to the action to become part of it... sometimes more literally than anyone planned.

That mix of hard work, family improvisation and humor became part of Li'l Peetzas from the beginning.

Asked whether Rich was watching the children while working at his desk at home, Bev put it plainly: “He was present.”

A Li'l Peetza may look a little like a burrito, but the shell is pizza dough. It wraps around the filling so the flavors come together in every bite - hot, melty and easy to eat on the go.

There was nothing fussy about it. People found their favorite combination, remembered it and came back for it. Decades later, many still know their order without stopping to think.

In the Hageman family, Brandy's favorite was a Deluxe with Canadian bacon and black olive. Bev liked extra cheese and a lightly toasted shell. Rich went for pepperoni and jalapeño and always more sauce than typical.

Li'l Peetzas was a restaurant, but it was also where the Hageman children grew up, where relatives stopped in and where neighbors became regulars. The family's businesses were close to home because work, family and community were never very far apart.

The original restaurant closed in the fall of 1987 during difficult local economic conditions. Li'l Peetzas continued at the Grand and King Dairy Queens into the mid-1990s. And even though Li'l Peetzas left the menu, the memories did not.

Former customers kept remembering the food, the place on Grand and the people they shared it with. Those stories inspired the family to roll Li'l Peetzas again for the one-day 50th Anniversary Celebration in October 2026.

On Saturday, October 3, 2026, Brandy, Carrie and Christie, with Rich, Bev, family and friends, brought back the original Li'l Peetza for a 50th Anniversary Celebration in Billings.

It was a one-day reunion: a chance to enjoy an old favorite, share stories, introduce the next generation and celebrate the little restaurant that became part of so many lives.

The celebration has ended. No permanent reopening has been announced. Thank you to everyone who remembered, joined us and helped make the reunion possible.