NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Slim & Husky’s, the famous hip hop pizza franchise founded by three Tennessee State University alums, recently received recognition from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution as one of the “notable metro Atlanta restaurant openings of 2019.”
Clinton Gray III, Derrick Moore and Emmanuel “E.J.” Reed, all 2007 graduates of TSU, debuted the restaurant’s first Atlanta location in early May on Howell Road, offering teachers free pizza and a sneak peak at the venue. The owners say they plan to open a second Atlanta location on Metropolitan Parkway in Adair Park.
Plans have also been made to offer their unique array of pizza at new locations in Memphis, Chattanooga, Birmingham (Alabama), Austin, Houston and Louisville.
In 2010, Gray, Moore and Reed took their vision, passion and the almost $3,000 they had between them and paid a visit to the Nashville Business Incubation Center at the TSU Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic development. Within seven years they had built a multi-million dollar moving company that set the stage for opening the first location of Slim & Husky’s Local Pizza Beeria, at 911 Buchanan St., in 2017.
“We just wanted to provide something that would give the neighborhood some hope and also be inclusive to those who are first time homebuyers in the area,” Gray said then. “ We just want to bring everybody together over some good pizza.”
In December, the Metropolitan Nashville City Council recognized the trio with a resolution for “winning the National Cheese Pizza Contest on Good Morning America, and for creating jobs and food options in underserved areas.”
With the vision of fusing pizza, hip hop and art, Gray, Moore and Reed have created a thriving restaurant that provides some of the best gourmet pizza in the nation as well as economic opportunities for college students.
For more information about Slim & Husky’s Pizza Beeria, visit https://slimandhuskys.com .
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Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a premier, historically black university and land-grant institution offering 38 bachelor’s degree programs, 24 master’s degree programs, and seven doctoral degrees. TSU is a comprehensive research intensive institution with a R-2 Carnegie designation, and has a graduate school on its downtown Avon Williams Campus, along with the Otis Floyd Nursery Research Center in McMinnville, Tennessee. With a commitment to excellence, Tennessee State University provides students with a quality education in a nurturing and innovative environment that prepares them as alumni to be global leaders in every facet of society. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.