Everybody has their fandom, whether it’s comic books, television shows or sports teams. For Jason Halkias, it’s pizza. More specifically, it’s Pizza Ranch.

This past Tuesday, Halkias, of Davenport, Iowa, visited the Prairie du Chien Pizza Ranch for the first time. But he’s not a Ranch novice. Quite the opposite: Halkias has been to every Pizza Ranch. You could say he’s a seasoned (possibly with oregano and garlic?) veteran of the brand.

His first time visiting a Pizza Ranch was in Muscatine, Iowa, in 2005. Over the next nine years, he took his Ranch fandom to a new level by visiting 100 different locations.

“When I got to 100 locations, somebody suggested that I visit them all, so I did,” he said.

His original journey took him to 224 locations, and now that he has completed his quest, he’s begun a “post-quest” to visit new locations as they open. So far, Halkias’s has been to 228 stops in 14 states. And his journey is ongoing; he’s currently planning visits to two restaurants opening in Texas this year.

Halkias said Pizza Ranch’s menu is one of the reasons why he’s become a fan, but it’s the people who keep him coming back.

“It’s the environment,” he said. “What more could you ask for? It’s the good food and the service, but what really sets every location apart from one another are the people who serve their community... Every location has their ranch hands that are the glue that holds everything together.”

He said he doesn’t have a favorite location. “I never play favorites. I honestly believe that every location is unique in their own way.”

Halkias has attracted media attention during his travels, appearing on television, in newspapers, and on radio stations in eight states, including Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming and the Dakotas. The New York Post even covered his story.

While visiting Pizza Ranches, Halkias said he would go sightseeing and take vacations. Now, he tries to plan his visits around his job DJing weddings. “It’s always a wonderful experience; you meet some wonderful people out there.”

The Prairie du Chien Pizza Ranch opened this past November. The restaurant’s much-anticipated arrival has been an unequivocal success. According to District Manager Jim Ferdenzi, the location is on track to do approximately $2 million in its first year and attracts around 800,000 social media views a month.

“And that’s without the Fun Zone, so you’re looking at $2.3–$2.4 million when our project was $1.1 million in Prairie du Chien,” he said.

“What we’ve learned is we thought we were going to do 50,000 to 60,000 a week in the summer, but everybody else is open, too,” he said. “In the wintertime is when we get our biggest numbers because we’re open.”

The Prairie du Chien Pizza Ranch is located at 700 East Blackhawk Avenue.