Faces of the Valley: Harrison woman marks 50 years working for 'the Hut'

When Peggy Morrow began working for Pizza Hut, a small pepperoni pizza at the restaurant cost $1.25.

And the minimum wage wasn’t much more than that, said Morrow, who has been working for the company for 50 years.

Morrow, 69, of the Natrona Heights section of Harrison, is the general manager at the Lower Burrell Pizza Hut, where she started her career in November 1973.

She has transferred to different locations in the Alle-Kiski Valley and Florida — where her family lived for a period of time when her husband, Wayne, got a job there — but Pennsylvania, and the Lower Burrell Pizza Hut, have always felt like home.

“I don’t have plans on retiring yet, because some of my customers tell me it all goes downhill once you retire,” Morrow said. “I’m in good health, and I just can’t picture myself sitting at home.”

Morrow first began working as a waitress, a job which, thanks to technology, has evolved over time.

“We used to do everything by hand,” she said. “We didn’t have computers at all. We wrote out all the tickets.”

About four years into Morrow working at Pizza Hut, Wayne’s job took them to Pinellas County, Fla., where Morrow continued her employment with the company. In total, she has worked at eight Pizza Hut locations: four in Florida and four in the Alle-Kiski Valley.

“Basically, it was pretty much the same — a little busier near the beaches,” she said.

Ultimately, she said, family brought her back to the area and she feels more comfortable here.

Over the years, Morrow held many jobs within the company, from waitress to production cook to manager. She remembers making the doughfrom scratch. Nowadays, ingredients are packaged, she said.

She became a manager in 2000, a role she thoroughly enjoys.

“I was told I was doing all the work anyhow — might as well get paid for it,” she laughed.

At the Lower Burrell store, Morrow oversees about 15 employees. Shift manager Crystal Fairman of Leechburg complimented Morrow’s leadership style. Fairman has worked at Pizza Hut for 37 years but jokes that she has work to do to catch up to Morrow.

She said she and her coworkers continue to learn under Morrow’s leadership.

“When I deal with a customer, I think, well, how would Peggy deal with it? And then I try to fall in line,” Fairman said.

Fairman said the atmosphere among employees at Pizza Hut is that of a family, with Morrow being the mother figure, someone everyone can talk to and learn from.

“She’s very nice. She tries to accommodate people’s schedules with working,” Fairman said. “She’s taught me a lot since I came here.”

Morrow has three sons, Wayne Jr., Scott and Jeff — all of whom, at some point, also worked at Pizza Hut. Even her husband worked with her for a brief period of time, she said.

“It was OK,” she said, with a laugh. “We got along.”

She said the best thing about being a manager, and her longevity at Pizza Hut, is watching her employees grow up. For some, it’s their first job.

“I enjoy being these kids’ first-time jobs for them,” she said. “I’m teaching them for what’s going to happen in the real world, when they get outside these walls.”

Watching their development makes it more worthwhile, she said.

“They come back and visit as an adult, and talk about what they’ve done with their life,” she said. “That’s rewarding.”

She also has developed a relationship with the customers.

“You get to know a lot of them. They become friends. The people here, they know me by the cars I drive. … It’s like family,” she said.

Morrow works about 50 hours a week, but it doesn’t always feel like it, she said.

“I’ve always enjoyed being here,” she said. “Even on my days off, I think I should get up and come here.”

After ringing in five decades with the company, she has no plans of retiring. But if that day comes, she says she wants a jacket with “Pizza Pete,” a cartoon pitchman for the company during its early days.

“I always say, this is the store I started at, this is the store I’ll end at,” Morrow said.