“This article was originally published by Franchise Times.”
Photo: Chef Kathleen Kennedy
Prior to becoming the lead chef at Marco’s Pizza, Kennedy held similar roles at Jack in the Box and Starbucks. She said a big part of her job and one of her great joys now at the pizza chain is to bring fresh ingredients and ideas to the Marco’s menu.
LTOs help her accomplish that goal.
In 2024, Marco’s launched three LTOs as part of its new Fiery Flavors Menu. The company also added one side item, breadsticks, and a dessert item, chocolate CinnaSquares, for a total of 13 new menu items.
“We are a 1,200-unit pizza store, but we still enjoy introducing our customers to new fun flavors, and an example of that this past year was the Margherita Magnifico, which we worked with an outside company to plant the basil all the way to making special basil sauce,” Kennedy said. “That’s something
In terms of sales, Kennedy said the Margherita Magnifico and Triple Pepperoni Magnifico had the highest store mix/volume for Marco’s LTOs in 2024.
She explained the thought and planning process of rolling out LTOs at Marco’s is generally a long one that can take up to a year to complete. She said she collaborates closely with Alex Tokatlian, the senior director of product innovation and menu strategy, on all new product launches and that any LTO needs the final OK from co-CEO Jack Butorac and his executive staff before being officially activated.
“The first step for our LTOs is doing the research by visiting cities and restaurants there to see what’s out there and then building some prototypes with our own variations added in,” she said. “We can start with as many as 40 ideas before we internally get them down to 20, and then we put those 20 ideas in front of a couple hundred consumers to see how they react to them.”
In the end, Kennedy said, “it’s all about what new flavors are going to excite our customers.”
