Last year, when the talk of Pepe’s and Hickory Street closing put a pall on the downtown restaurant scene, the owner of Legend Pizza was thinking big.

Brenda Mattson had been approached by one of her former delivery drivers about adding a specialty drink business inside the pizza parlor, but the plan would have to include some heavy lifting.

Then Rest Awhile Cafe on Bent Street went up for sale, and Mattson and her husband Steve jumped at the chance to take over the downtown cafe as a way to expand their offerings.

Mackenzie Hiller was ready to be part of that expansion and set up her specialty drink business, Fizzy Pop Haven, inside the new Legend Pizza & Co. location.

Legend has also recently added breakfast to the menu now that it’s in a building that formerly housed a breakfast spot, and after seeing the departure of other restaurants featuring breakfast.

Now Mattson and Hiller see their combined operation as a prime community spot, one where people can come in for an ice cream or special drink, a pizza or breakfast, sit in front of the fire or play a board game.

“We want to do this for the community, like we're here. We're open for them,” Hiller said. “So if somebody has ideas, we're open to ideas letting us know, like, ‘hey, you know, maybe this is something you can try.’”

That’s already been happening — Hiller said one of her employees made a customer a chocolate covered strawberry shake — and they’re even welcoming birthday parties and group get-togethers.

“Now that the word is getting out that we've moved and we have more than one business in here … people are coming in and enjoying it, you know,” Mattson said. “And we're getting a lot of positive feedback.”

She said through the move and expansion of offerings, Hiller has been a huge help to her, in addition to providing a whole new business for the establishment.

The idea for them to combine started last spring. The two had known each other from years before, when Hiller was a driver for Mattson at the former Pizza on the Run.

“I walked in and asked her, ‘so on the other side of the building, what are you doing with the front of it?’ And she goes, ‘I don't know just yet.’ And I was like, ‘Can I do a little soda shop?’ And she's like, ‘absolutely.’ And so that's just kind of where it all came about.”

Taking over Rest Awhile made the joint operation easier, and now the two are working on new ways to combine the businesses, such as a drink and pizza slice.

Both had to think awhile at what would be the perfect combination.

“You could do Jalapeno Popper and a vanilla ice cream or vanilla milkshake, I think that's the one that I personally like, is ice cream and pizza,” Hiller said. “It's just like the perfect duo, the perfect pair, any milkshake and any pizza.”

Mattson agreed.