The Strategy
Marco's Pizza, the Toledo, Ohio-based chain operating more than 1,200 stores across 35 states, is using National Pizza Month as a vehicle to drive higher average check sizes — deploying Director of Culinary Innovation Chef Kathleen Kennedy to architect five complete meal combinations that bundle pizza with appetizers, salads, sides, and dessert. The structured pairings, available through October at participating locations, represent a deliberate push to shift consumer ordering behavior from single-item to multi-category transactions.
Kennedy, who brings more than 40 years of culinary experience across high-end restaurants and major food and beverage brands including Kraft, Starbucks, and Walmart, has led Marco's menu innovation for the past two years. The five pairings span distinct dining occasions: a heat-forward "Fire & Honey" build anchored by the Hot Honey Magnifico® with Mike's Hot Honey® wings; a family-oriented "Classic Comfort" set featuring the Pepperoni Magnifico® at a $12.99 everyday price point; a vegetable-forward "Veggie Feast" highlighting the Garden Specialty Pizza with an optional cauliflower crust; a high-volume "Ultimate Game Day" combination centered on the loaded Ultimate Magnifico with 15-piece wings and a Pepperoni Pizzoli handheld; and a streamlined "Light & Bright" pairing built around the returning Margherita Magnifico.
Quality as a Competitive Lever
The campaign doubles as a brand-standards statement in a QSR pizza segment where input-cost pressure has pushed some operators toward dough and sauce shortcuts. Kennedy framed Marco's manufacturing commitments — fresh in-store dough, multi-day cool proofing, hand-stretching to order, and a three-fresh-never-frozen cheese blend — as non-negotiable. "Guests shouldn't have to compromise to get a great meal, and we're not willing to compromise to give them one," she said. "It would be easier, and less expensive, to cut corners on the dough or the sauce or the cheese. Our guests deserve more and we look to deliver."
The positioning aligns with third-party validation Marco's has accumulated in recent cycles. Technomic Ignite Consumer 2025 data awarded the brand a 54.6% composite top-box rating in the Limited-Service Pizza category — the highest in the segment according to Nation's Restaurant News. The chain also ranked No. 50 on Entrepreneur Magazine's 2026 Franchise 500 and appeared on QSR's Top 50 list, metrics that factor into franchisee recruitment conversations at a time when the brand is still in an active growth phase.
Distribution & Ordering Infrastructure
All five pairings are accessible via delivery, carryout, or dine-in at participating Marco's locations nationwide. The chain is also channeling the campaign through its redesigned mobile app — available on both the App Store and Google Play — which supports Apple Pay, Google Pay, and the Marco's More loyalty rewards program. Driving digital order volume through owned channels rather than third-party delivery platforms remains a margin-protection priority for pizza chains broadly, as marketplace commission rates continue to compress franchisee economics.
For the pizza and foodservice industry, the October campaign illustrates a wider operator playbook: use culinary credibility to justify premium bundling, anchor a limited-time narrative to a calendar moment that already carries consumer awareness, and reinforce unit-level economics by pulling customers toward larger, multi-item orders. For Marco's franchise network specifically, a higher-attachment-rate order in October can provide a meaningful contribution to Q4 comparable sales — a figure the privately held chain does not publicly disclose but that franchisees and prospective investors will be watching against the brand's growth trajectory. Coverage of related QSR menu strategy trends is available at /category/restaurants, and analysis of franchise development economics can be found at /category/franchising.
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.
