The New SKU
Home Run Inn Pizza, the Chicago-based frozen pizza brand that ranks among the top 10 nationally and holds the number-one position in the Chicagoland market, has launched its first-ever Pan Pizza — a thicker-crust extension of the tavern-style format the company pioneered on the city's South Side in the early 1940s. The product is now on shelf at Chicagoland Jewel stores and Tony's Fresh Market locations.
The new line arrives in five 9-inch SKUs: Cheese, Sausage, Sausage Pepperoni, Meat Lovers, and Pepperoni. Home Run Inn describes the crust as made from scratch using all-natural ingredients, topped with freshly sliced mozzarella and a proprietary tomato sauce developed from a family recipe. The Pan Pizza represents a deliberate format diversification rather than a departure from brand identity — the company's core frozen offering remains its signature thin, hand-pinched tavern-style crust, which has anchored its retail presence for decades.
Why It Matters
For a family-owned operator competing against multinational frozen pizza brands, expanding the SKU count within existing retail distribution is a capital-efficient growth lever. Home Run Inn's existing footprint — which includes six Chicagoland pizzerias, distribution coast to coast, and placement at Chicago's Midway and O'Hare International Airports — gives the Pan Pizza line immediate visibility without requiring a new logistics buildout. The brand also holds the Official Pizza designation for the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field, a partnership that reinforces consumer familiarity in its core market.
The pan-style format is among the fastest-growing segments within the frozen pizza category, as shoppers trade the cracker-thin style for thicker, more filling options. Home Run Inn's entry positions the nearly 80-year-old brand to capture incremental basket share from consumers already loyal to its thin-crust product, while also competing for pan-pizza buyers who have not previously purchased the brand.
"We're proud to introduce Pan Pizza to the Home Run Inn frozen pizza lineup while staying true to the quality, flavor, and tradition that have defined our brand for nearly 80 years," said Dan Costello, chief executive officer and fourth-generation family member. "Made from scratch just like our original tavern-style pizza, with all-natural ingredients, our new Pan Pizza offers customers another delicious way to enjoy the Home Run Inn flavor they know and love, now with a thicker crust."
The Promotional Push
To drive trial, the company is running a "Free Pizza Fridays" promotion at all Home Run Inn restaurant locations every Friday throughout November. Customers who purchase any extra-large cheese or sausage pizza — available for dine-in or carryout — receive one free frozen Pan Pizza per order. The mechanic is a classic cross-channel activation: using the high-traffic restaurant network to seed the new retail SKU, lowering the barrier to first purchase. The campaign mirrors strategies employed by other regional foodservice operators expanding their consumer-packaged-goods lines, where in-store dining occasions serve as sampling vehicles for grocery-aisle products.
For food retailers and category buyers, the launch signals that established regional pizza brands are willing to invest in format innovation to defend shelf space against both national incumbents and private-label expansion. As frozen pizza competes with the broader at-home meal occasion, incumbents with strong geographic identity — and the manufacturing infrastructure to support retail scale — are better positioned than emerging brands to absorb the cost of a new SKU introduction.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
