The New SKU

Home Run Inn, the Chicago-based family brand that ranks among the top 10 frozen pizza labels sold nationally and holds the No. 1 position in the Chicagoland market, is launching its first Pan Pizza — a thicker-crust extension of its nearly 80-year-old tavern-style platform. The new product is now on shelf at Chicagoland Jewel stores and Tony's Fresh Market locations, hitting retail ahead of the peak holiday frozen-food selling window.

The Pan Pizza comes in five 9-inch varieties: Cheese, Sausage, Sausage Pepperoni, Meat Lovers, and Pepperoni. Home Run Inn describes the crust as built on the same scratch-made, all-natural recipe as its original tavern-style thin crust — just thicker — and loaded with freshly sliced mozzarella and a family-recipe tomato sauce. For operators and retail buyers, it fills a format gap in the brand's frozen portfolio without cannibalizing the thin-crust equity that made it a regional staple.

Driving Trial at Retail

To generate consumer pull-through at the shelf level, Home Run Inn's six Chicagoland pizzerias are running "Free Pizza Fridays" every Friday in November. Any dine-in or carryout purchase of an extra-large cheese or sausage pizza includes one free frozen Pan Pizza — a direct sampling mechanism that moves frozen product through the restaurant forecourt and into household pantries before competing holiday SKUs lock up basket share.

Dan Costello, CEO and fourth-generation family member, called the launch an extension of the brand's core commitment. "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," Costello said.

Channel Context

Frozen pizza remains one of the highest-velocity categories in both grocery and convenience channels. For c-store operators evaluating their frozen-food sets, regional powerhouse brands with strong local identity — particularly those with top-10 national standing — consistently outperform generic private-label in impulse-driven formats. Home Run Inn already has distribution reach at Chicago Midway and O'Hare International airports and carries the Official Pizza designation for the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field, giving the brand a built-in footprint that extends well beyond the traditional grocery aisle.

The pan-style format also aligns with a broader foodservice trend: thicker, more indulgent crust profiles have gained share in both the QSR and frozen segments over the past two years as consumers seek restaurant-quality results from at-home preparation. For convenience retailers carrying Home Run Inn's frozen line, the Pan Pizza SKUs represent an incremental facings opportunity in a proven brand family — particularly in urban and suburban Chicagoland stores where the brand commands outsized consumer loyalty. Retailers interested in the full frozen lineup can review distribution details at homeruninnpizza.com.

The Free Pizza Fridays promotion runs through the end of November at all six Home Run Inn restaurant locations, giving the retail launch a four-week media halo that independent frozen brands rarely generate on their own. That kind of integrated restaurant-to-retail strategy is worth watching for foodservice-at-convenience operators evaluating how supplier partners support new SKU introductions — a topic covered regularly in frozen and packaged food coverage across the Food & Beverage Magazine network.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can operators buy Home Run Inn Pan Pizza right now?

It's live at Jewel-Osco and Tony's Fresh Market locations across Chicagoland as of this launch. Home Run Inn is leveraging its top-tier regional position—No. 1 frozen pizza in Chicagoland—to secure shelf space before the holiday push.

What's the actual product spec on the Pan Pizza SKUs?

Five varieties in 9-inch format: Cheese, Sausage, Sausage Pepperoni, Meat Lovers, and Pepperoni. The crust uses the same scratch-made, all-natural recipe as their tavern-style thin crust, just thicker, with fresh-sliced mozzarella and family-recipe sauce.

How is Home Run Inn driving trial and turning this into retail velocity?

They're running Free Pizza Fridays every Friday in November at their six Chicagoland pizzerias—any large purchase gets a free frozen Pan Pizza bundled in. It's a direct-to-household sampling play designed to capture category share before competing holiday SKUs lock up basket space.

Does this Pan Pizza line cannibalize the existing thin-crust business?

No. Home Run Inn specifically positioned this as a format extension that fills a gap in their frozen portfolio without eroding the tavern-style thin-crust equity that made them top 10 nationally. It's an add-to strategy, not a replacement.

Why launch frozen Pan Pizza now, heading into the holidays?

Peak frozen-food selling window is Q4—operators know this. Home Run Inn is shipping ahead of that surge to secure shelf real estate and household penetration before January markdowns hit. Timing matters in frozen; this is textbook retail strategy.