2026 Gold Nugget John Hjalmquist on Accounting, Luck, and People
Hunt Insights · Alumni and Homecoming
2026 Gold Nugget John Hjalmquist on Accounting, Luck, and People
“I’ve been very blessed,” John T. Hjalmquist ’78 told Hunt Business students during Homecoming. A job he did not get, a blind newspaper ad, and a blind date helped him explain why.
The Big Picture
The job he skipped came back without a name.
Hjalmquist missed out on a cost accounting job at a surgical garment maker. “I didn’t get the job, and thank God I didn’t. I would have been miserable.” He then passed on a Peter Piper Pizza controller ad. Months later, he answered a blind ad placed by Lauterbach Borschow. It was for Peter Piper.
Eight new restaurants opened within months. Some struggled, leaving him to explain a cash shortage to the bank and figure out how to pay vendors. “One of the biggest advantages in my career was being forced to wear many different hats.”
What UTEP Gave Him
Accounting did not settle where he fit.
At UTEP, he chose accounting because “accounting is how you analyze a business.” After graduating with honors, he joined Ernst & Ernst as an auditor, became controller at American Furniture Co., and weighed an MBA against law school.
“My biggest challenge wasn’t the work. It was figuring out where I wanted to fit in.”
John Hjalmquist ’78
2026 UTEP Gold Nugget
He calls those turns serendipity. He met his wife on a blind date through a Peter Piper coworker. “I was blessed in that way,” he said. “But you also have to put yourself out there. Meet people. Volunteer.”
The Long View
Keeping people takes more than hiring them.
Hjalmquist now leads companies operating Peter Piper Pizza, Applebee’s, and BOSS Tenders, Dogs & Custard. He shared the company’s hiring rule: “Hire for attitude. You can train the skills later.”
Firing employees has cost him sleep. To keep managers, the business moved from six-day to five-day workweeks and gave them some weekends off. “Leadership is, to a large extent, a moral matter,” he said.
“We have a specific philosophy: take care of people. Pay them fairly and well. Treat them right, offer good benefits, and respect them as people.”
John Hjalmquist ’78
2026 UTEP Gold Nugget
