Pizza X celebrates 30 years

Cars splashed into the parking lot, cautiously navigating other vehicles trying to park or make their exit.

Packs of three to four students emerged from the cars, eyes directed at the northwest corner of the lot. Music pounded from a large, black van. A light, off-and-on rain greeted them as they made their way toward two tents.

A blue tent covered dozens of neon blue and green cups stuffed with sunglasses, koozies and pingpong balls. A white tent sheltered the main attraction — hundreds of brown bags filled with doughy, salted strips of bread.

For six hours, free breadstix flowed at the original Pizza X, 1791 E. 10th St., on campus. It was the tenth year of the give-away event, which usually draws hundreds of hungry students and creates long lines down the block.

While popularity for the event has grown, it is relatively new. Pizza X just celebrated its 30th year in business.

Jesse Bloom, general manager at Pizza X, has been with the company for 15 years.

He stepped out from behind the counter on break, apron covered in red and orange splotches. Stacks of empty pizza boxes, ready to be filled and carried out, towered above him.

Bloom said the rain was slowing things down, but that people were still turning out for the promise of free breadstix. He said the breadstixs rivals, if not surpasses, the pizza itself.

He talked about the company and its aggressive marketing scheme that skips on television and print advertisement and shoots for more student engagement.

The PNT—  pump and thump — vehicle drives around campus, blaring music. A rainbow of plastic cups sit in apartment windows, on front porches and in kitchen cabinets. A Speedo-clad caped man makes appearances at IU sporting events with the gift of free food.

“It’s very in your face. You can’t avoid it,” said James Stolbom, a junior and marketing intern for One World Enterprises, the parent company of Pizza X.

Bloom recalled alumni visiting Pizza X who said it had been a campus tradition on late nights more than a decade ago.

“We’re kind of built into the IU experience,” he said.

Since expanding hours of the free stix event last year from 4 to 8 p.m. to the new noon to 6 p.m., the event has been less congested.

Monday, a line struggled to form as students pulled in, power walked to grab their swag and sticks and returned to the dry shelter of their cars.

A silver van pulled up to the blue tent as if it were a drive-thru window.

“Hey, do I have to be a student to get one?” the middle-aged man behind the wheel yelled to the three employees beneath the tent.

“No, you just have to be a person,” Stolbom said.

“Great, my wife loves your cups.”

“You don’t even know,” she said with a chuckle. Stolbom passed two cups through her open passenger side window.

Roommates Michael Linn, senior, and Kyle Jenkins, sophomore, walked across the lot as the rain strengthened. Linn said he usually goes for what’s closest and cheapest for pizza.

But when breadstix come into play, “Oh my God,” he said.

Later, as they drove away, seniors Shelby Mader and Steve Hiller pulled up. The two heard about the event on Facebook.

During their freshman year, they lived at Wright Quad, just a short walk away from the campus Pizza X.

“We’ve moved in the past four years, and there’s always one close by,” Hiller said.

Clutching her free cups and breadstix, Mader, who likes cheese and ranch dipping sauce, said she makes it to Pizza X at least once a week.

“They’re super college friendly,” she said. “They know how to cater to us students.”