restaurantThe Profit · Season 5, Episode 15 · Aired July 10, 2018
Simply Slices
Crestwood, Illinois
Yes. This one is still open.
What happened after
Pizza chain, 'serving since 1998'; now three locations (Carbondale, Crestwood, Mokena) with regular posted hours.
What happened on the show
Simply Slices was a small family run pizza chain where, in the episode's telling, the proud patriarch was squeezing the life out of the business. He had long wanted to take his drive through pizza idea across the country, yet he was so resistant to change that he alienated the very franchisees who could help him get there. It was a recurring Profit dynamic, a founder whose stubbornness and control had become the ceiling on his own ambition. Marcus's task was to loosen the patriarch's grip enough to make the concept franchisable, to align him with potential partners rather than driving them off, and to build the consistency and structure a growing chain needs. The drive through pizza idea had genuine appeal, but the founder's inability to bend was standing between it and the national footprint he wanted so badly.
After the cameras left
Simply Slices is still serving. The pizza chain, operating since 1998, now runs three locations across Carbondale, Crestwood, and Mokena, Illinois, with regular posted hours for all of them, including the Crestwood shop on South Cicero Avenue. There is no online ordering integration, but the informational site is clearly maintained and current. The business the episode found strangled by its founder's resistance is operating across multiple locations years later. Confirmed operating as of 2026, high confidence.
Sources
Confidence: high. Last checked 2026-07-19.
What is there now
Street imagery via Google Maps. Location approximate.