At Partners

II Pizza in Peachtree City, owners Marilyn and Jim Royal have been surrounded

with high school and college-age youths who cook, serve and wash dishes.

And while they're

the backbone behind the service at Partners, the kids are also part of

the fun, according to Marilyn and her husband Jim, co-owners of the landmark

establishment.

So as Partners'

25th anniversary approaches in January, the Royals are inviting back former

employees for a big bash at the restaurant Thursday, Dec. 27, at 6 p.m.

When Partners

opened in 1977, there were about 10 employees and it became the

job for teens in Peachtree City because at the time it was the largest

employer of youths, Jim Royal said. Now, there are 85 employees, most

of whom come from local high schools, and it's possible for some to make

up to $15 an hour on a good night.

The Royals

estimate that over 1,500 different youths have worked for their pizza

joint over the years.

The continuing

popularity of the business among teenage job-seekers might also have to

do with what Jim Royal calls his management style.

"My philosophy

is I let 'em screw around when it's slow," Royal said. "Because

when things get busy they need to hustle, and they do."

In the beginning,

when the business was growing along with then-tiny Peachtree City, to

get a job at Partners you had to be a brother or sister of an employee,

Jim Royal recalled.

"We had

kids 12 and 13 years old who would put their application in so they could

be on the waiting list," he remembered.

Among the Partners

alumnus are three lawyers "I don't hold responsibility for that,"

Jim Royal claims.

In correspondence

with the Royals about the reunion, a number of former employees recalled

Jim's stern demeanor whenever he had to call an employee into his office

for discipline.

One employee

refereed to it as "the immortal Jim Royal stare." Another recalled

being "hauled in" for a little fatherly advice from Royal.

But the Royals

agree, the past 24 years and counting have been a blast, largely due to

the kids who they agree have kept them young.

"I can't

imagine working with adults," Marilyn Royal said.

And to think

that Partners success, in recent years due to the "Baked Potato Pizza,"

came about all because Jim Royal came to then-tiny Peachtree City looking

for a job in 1976.

He saw the

space for lease at the Aberdeen Shopping Center, had a pizza oven back

in his garage, and decided to make a go of it. And the Royals have never

looked back.

"I remember

that Tuesday afternoon we opened," Royal said. "I said we've

got to open tonight, because I'm out of money."

They did $800

in business that night, catching him by surprise and starting Peachtree

City's longest running restaurant.

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