00:00.22

vigorbranding

And with some great guests and so I thought well we should keep it going. It’s good for social media. It’s good for you know it’s good. So I mean you know I’ll be honest’ve I’m only done a few of these but it’s been fun and you know I don’t know it’s just ah, you know the guys do a great job. So it turns out all right? yeah.

00:06.19

Dan Costello

Um, yeah.

00:16.98

Dan Costello

Um, cool, Awesome. Look forward to it. Don’t give hi.

00:19.29

vigorbranding

Yeah, yeah, yeah, know yeah this will be this will be a lap for you I mean you know it’s just just like your story and I mean it sincerely I mean great story, great family. Great product. It’s just you know it’s just it’s just super cool. We got a guy here working the production Robert who you’re already his fan. He’s a huge fan of home run his friends.

00:28.80

Dan Costello

Gun.

00:36.54

vigorbranding

Took him there and he you know is one of his best buddies is out there archer ra and thirty first street with archer a thirty first yeah Yeah, so yeah, yeah, so yeah, yeah, heyan on one thing we’re you know can keep casual and loose. We’re already kind of rolling here. Um, just 1 thing he got to do once we kind of finish up the convo.

00:42.27

Dan Costello

Ah, okay, nice Robert very good.

00:55.40

vigorbranding

We just gotta have you hang on the line thus til your tilll your file kind of uplis what locally so we’ probably just got hang out for extra 10 minutes when we’re done reporting just to make yeah just to make sure everything you know gets off load quickly and everything everything like that. Okay, we’re wrong. So guy you’re ready cool hi.

01:02.40

Dan Costello

At the end of it. Yes, yes.

01:12.79

Dan Costello

Um, new promise.

01:14.91

vigorbranding

Well again, this will be fun casual tell stories. Enjoy it. It’s all good. So I’m I’m ready when if Dan’s ready if you’re ready Robert yeah, we’re good to go best all right. all right

01:24.43

Dan Costello

Hi whenever you’re ready I’m good Mike.

01:31.36

vigorbranding

Hello everyone I am joined today by my good friend and our guest Dan Costello Dan is the Ceo of home run in pizza in the Chicago area now home run in pizza says a lot right there Dan You want to say hello and give us a little backstory.

01:46.66

Dan Costello

Hi guys mike good to hear from me again. Yeah so home run in is a family owned pizza establishment in the Chicago area. We have 9 local restaurants including one that is a partnership in midway airport. We’ve been in business since nineteen business started in 1927 and pizza business started 1947 and we also along with the restaurants we have frozen pizzas. Ah, in across the country. So we’re nationwide with various retailers like Albertson Safeway and they were regional with other retailers like Walmart and um and Kroger and then you know find ourselves in the southeast southwest and covering coast to coast. So. That’s the core of what we do.

02:33.18

vigorbranding

Yeah, it’s it’s ah it’s it’s an amazing story and so it’s super near and dear to me, not not only your friend but with Vigor we’re we’re obviously really passionate about restaurants and restaurant brands. But. Quench another company we own and have started. It’s all cpg so you cover both worlds. So this is really super intriguing and as I said near and dear to my heart. But let’s talk about how did you get started? Yeah, ah, you’re a bus boy at age 13 you would talk a little bit about the the early days of of Dan’s career

03:00.41

Dan Costello

Sure, um, so yeah, so I think I said a fourth generation. So it’s family business so we grew up. We grew up in it. We were encouraged especially very early to come into the business. So I you know I started when I when I was 13 I started. As a bus boy at our original restaurant on thirty first street on the on the southwest side of Chicago there store still there. It’s doing really well so grew up on the restaurant side of the business. So that’s back in the oh there’s probably back around 1984 1985 and my uncle who unfortunately no longer is with us. That’s when he really started making a big push to try to take our restaurant product into the frozen ah retail section of the grocery stores. So. He was kind of the driving force behind that 1987 he built our first factory which is behind that original restaurant. Still there today. We still use it. We have a main facility now out in the suburbs of Chicago and Woodridge Illinois but that’s ah you know that was kind of the the advent of the frozen pizza goes back. You know quite, it’s grounded in the roots of our restaurants you know making par big pizzas for people cooking them halfway people taking them home. So my uncle is just kind of like we got to figure out how to how to do this on ah on a grocery type scale.

04:26.53

vigorbranding

Very cool. So okay, it says on here. You’re also sausage grinder now some would consider me a sausage grinder my role now but you can talk a little bit about that you started as a kid. You’re a sausage grinder this is the sausage thing um from what I understand pepperoni is the number 1 topping in the United States except for.

04:32.37

Dan Costello

That’s a question.

04:43.31

vigorbranding

In Chicago.

04:44.18

Dan Costello

Chicago Midwest maybe Milwaukee too I’d have to check with the people there but we know in Chicago the number one pizza dock and sausage. It’s it’s ah yeah, it dates back I mean it’s his historical I mean we just got a lot of ah eastern european that settled here they they went with sausage. So um.

04:48.88

vigorbranding

Yeah, yeah.

05:01.70

Dan Costello

Yeah I mean we did everything from Scratch. We’d make our dough. You know we blended our sauce and we would one of the jobs I had as a teenager which was Definite. Weve had a butcher shop I worked in the butcher Shop. We’d get In. We’d get in pork and we’d have to take the bones out So and then we’d we. We’d cut it and then we’d. Grind it. So I Guess yeah, it’s sausage Grinder. You know that was that was a job in the past.

05:25.88

vigorbranding

So I love some of the the history of it I mean it was started in the restaurant I mean I think you told me the story and I’ve I’ve noticed it before I knew you would you know go round pizzas but somehow you guys decide to cut them up in little squares. Why why did you do that.

05:42.30

Dan Costello

Yeah, so the history on that is you know so my grandfather got out of the war. Um, so nineteen circuit 1945 right and he gets comes back and he’s looking for a job and he was you know he’s a mechanic by trade.

05:59.10

Dan Costello

But he couldn’t find he couldn’t get a job so he went to work from my motherin-law who owned a bar called the home run in and so he’s working at the bar for you know a couple years and he had he he had come. Ah, you know he’s from italy from bar italy so he has you know a version of pizza my grandmother encourages him to. Show it to my great grandmother so they start making it in the restaurant and giving it away to get people to come in to drink and um so what they did is they cut it into small tiny squares. That’s why Chicago tavern pizzas is cut in squares this listen. You know from our perspective this is how it started for us because they needed it to fit on a cocktail napping. They didn’t have plates. They didn’t have China they they weren’t a restaurant. They were a bar they were just trying to so they’re just trying to get people to yeah have a little snack by another beer so that is why our pizzas are cut into. Tiny squares and a lot of the pizzas in Chicago because that’s how it was introduced. It was introduced as this we’re one of the first pizzas in Chicago we started in 1947 we believe that you know like there might have been another 1 or 2 competitors starting in 44 45 but that’s how it came to be for us cocktail mac and head fit. Had to give it away.

07:16.19

vigorbranding

That’s fantastic. Can you tell tell me the story because again, it’s such a cool history. So your Uncle’s in the pizza shop talk about how you got into the cpg site the frozen pizza I mean that’s like everyone’s dream whoever makes or has a restaurant. Ah you know they want to do a dressing. They want to put it in the grocery stores everybody thinks it’s. Easy to jump to cpg? How did it all start with you.

07:36.70

Dan Costello

So I mean if you really go all the way back. It probably goes the story goes back to the 50 s for us where a customer comes into the restaurant. Um, so my uncle’s young at this point and he’s just probably hanging out and. The the gentleman comes in and he he wants a pizza and he wants it to bake bake it halfway he tells my grandfather so we call that par bake today you guys just like bake it halfway my grandfather was he said why? Why do you Why don’t you want this cooked all way and the guys this was our first frozen customer he goes I want I take it home. I’m going to put it in my freezer my icebox right? and he goes I spend the summers up in Wisconsin so he goes I want you to make me a dozen so I have them for the summer up in Wisconsin and he goes and so our original frozen pizza was ten inches because a ten inch pizza would fit in an icebox because it wasn’t freezers back then. So people had ice boxes so that I think my uncle saw that so then the sixty s come around and you know actually we had ah bartenders like hey why don’t we make more of these and I’ll on my way home I’ll stop at the corner grocery store I’ll drop them off. And then I’ll see how many they sell and on my way back to work the next day I’ll pick up the cash and how many they sold and I’ll bring it back so that’s even our first distributor was our bartender he would take the pizzas back to work. He’d walk him down of the corner grocery store pick him but pick up the cash the next day bring him back.

08:58.73

Dan Costello

So my uncle’s growing up in the 50 s and sixty s watching this and and restaurant expansion happens in the seventy s he’s working on that and he he just has this just this vision that hey there’s probably a better way to make these pizzas freeze them. And get him into the local grocery store so he really started investigating that probably in the 70 s and then in the eighty s he starts talking to the local groceries here which back then it was Dominic’s and jewel jewels still here. Dominics is no longer here. Um, but those were the 2 big grocery brands.

09:26.98

vigorbranding

Straight.

09:34.97

Dan Costello

And he starts he starts selling them and he’s then starts figuring out how to make it and the only way he could he knew how to make it was to make it like we made in the restaurant which was to make it in this parb bake format. So he’d make them in the restaurant. He’d put them in the oven. He’d parb bake him he’d throw them in the freezer. He’d wrap him and then he’d start selling in the grocery store. But year over year he just tried to figure out how do I do this better How do I get automation in this. How do he so he had to learn this whole thing. So our our frozen pizza production facilities really model and mirror what we did in the restaurants all these years and my uncle would tell you today if he was still with us. He said the reason we make it like that is because that’s the only way I knew how to do it. So yeah.

10:13.92

vigorbranding

That’s awesome. Yeah, and I was fortunate I was actually with you on a tour you gave us a tour and I was able to try it right there par baked and it was delicious then we actually compared went to the restaurant and compared a frozen to the restaurant pizza and I I say this because it’s True. Um. Was almost as good and I mean almost as good which I think is says ah a lot. Everyone loves Pizza. You know I’ve got this terrible saying that that pizza’s like sex. It’s all good somes better than others right? So I Just think ah ah that that I was amazed how close and how good the frozen pie was and I mean I just was it was it was tremendous.

10:41.78

Dan Costello

So let.

10:48.80

Dan Costello

And the process real similar so he I give me like he had a very he had a very clear vision on how he wanted to do this and yeah, he spent a lot of years Bc you know equipment had to be developed over you know back in the 70 s and eighty s in order to do this and he was.

10:51.00

vigorbranding

Um.

11:05.42

Dan Costello

He was integral in working with people and saying this is what I needed to do? How can we do this and you know got us to where we are today. So it it positioned us really well and you know so we have a healthy restaurant brand and now we have a healthy Cpg brand and you know the restaurants really drive that brand awareness in the marketing side for the frozen pizza.

11:11.28

vigorbranding

Meet.

11:24.17

Dan Costello

That’s what why? that’s what makes us a little different than a lot of our competitors you know majority. You look at the competitors and in the freezer case. There’s really only 1 or 2 that have restaurant background and roots of California pizza kitchens one and that’s about it. You know you can find a couple regionals here and there. But.

11:36.74

vigorbranding

In this.

11:41.72

Dan Costello

There’s not a lot of people who do both.

11:43.83

vigorbranding

Right? And with all due respect to California Pizza shouldn’t really come from California right? It just doesn’t feel right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it doesn’t feel right? Um, but I mean how but so talk about the the relationship between the restaurant and the frozen product. The cpg product.

11:46.28

Dan Costello

I That now you yeah have me way. Yeah will be kind. We’ll be kind right? so.

12:02.00

vigorbranding

Ah, one drives the other the other drives the other I mean you know it’s ah it’s ah it’s a neat thing because a lot of people have one and they want the other and somehow it’s just kind of organically happened with you.

12:10.10

Dan Costello

Yeah I mean again, it’s it’s the way that the business grew I mean we call it our flywheel now you know, really these restaurants you know we started in 1947 you know in today we feed we feed over two and a half million people a year out of our restaurants.

12:25.68

vigorbranding

Well.

12:27.81

Dan Costello

So You know for us, it’s It’s if if the most you know, Um, if the deepest level of connection with somebody is like is that type of taste experience. It’s a really hard. It’s a really difficult marketing um to to duplicate you know. With just pure dollars and say hey try Myself. We’re actually feeding like our marketing is feeding people and having them talk about the product and enjoy the product and having create these great experiences at our restaurants which is why we do a lot of a why the restaurants allow us to be parts of the community. You know you know once you’re in a restaurant. Yeah we can. We can.

12:47.40

vigorbranding

No.

13:03.63

Dan Costello

Work with your local lily we can talk to you you know with your school. We can. We can be part of the community which then gets people to understand our brand nor our brand trust our brand and then that trust we we know translates to when they’re walking down the frozen ile grocery store. So the synergy there. A lot of people ask us like well doesn’t the restaurants hurt the frozen with the frozen hurt the restaurants but we don’t see it like that at all, we see it very very synergistically and I you know thankful that our our product translated from a restaurant into a cpg brand. Um. It’s a hard thing to do and I know like you said like I’ve learned from you a lot of people. This is what everybody wants, but it’s not an easy trick right? It’s very difficult to pull off so I’m sure timing had some of 2 for us I mean we each Joe was an early adopter and moved down this early in the in the career and the life the life cycle of homer in.

13:46.62

vigorbranding

So I.

14:00.81

Dan Costello

So I’m sure that helped I think the fact that it’s a good product. It’s a really good product helps I think that we’re dedicated and our teammates are dedicated to making it the way we do and to be parts of the community that helps so it’s all these pieces have to come Together. You know so you can gain trust with the customer so that they’ll they’ll continue to invest in you. And continue to purchase that product So That’s where it’s um, that’s how I see him working you know the the parts of our business they’re they’re complimentary and they both depend on each other.

14:23.73

vigorbranding

Little.

14:29.68

vigorbranding

Yeah, it’s It’s very I think it’s a very pragmatic way to go about I think it’s smart it just they just should feed literally no pun intended off of each other because they’re both great brands and the the restaurant might have more history but because the history it allows that. That flywheel if you will to to capture the cpg side and again, yeah, then the product’s great so you get the product in people’s mouths and the rest is is History. You talk a lot about your uncle and obviously 4 generations of family owned and operated how important is family owned and operated for the brand.

15:06.39

Dan Costello

I think it’s I mean it’s really important I mean we’re very proud of it. Um I know the the my brother and my cousins that I work with there’s a lot of pride I mean we grew up in it. So it means a lot to us. You know when we don’t. Do a good job and we hear from our customers take it very seriously. Yeah I think you can you don’t have to own something to you know to care for it that way. But I think it certainly doesn’t hurt. You know that we’re very invested in it. So it’s important to what we do who we are. It’s important to our teammates I think our teammates enjoy and like knowing that we’re here and that we’re involved that we’re not absent owners I think that’s a really important cultural aspect of a family business if you can be ah, a present owner. Think that makes that’s meaningful to the people that are helping you build the thing you know we can’t do this without our teammates and we got over 500 and um I kind of view it for us is that we owe it to them to be present and in the trenches with them as we can as we do this every day.

16:14.36

vigorbranding

Very cool I mean you know people always say when you own restaurants and restaurants are volaging in my family and it’s like you’ve got to be there right? And then you know couple that with a brand you know when I put my I’ll say my marketing hat on a brand is a promise right. And you know, many times an’s hired to create that story or try and build that authenticity and what’s beautiful about what you have is. It’s already baked in I mean again, just right there family owned and operated everyone Cares. It started with the restaurants. There’s a story a history a reason for being. And then it just kind of goes from there. It’s just so really a natural ah concept and it’s It’s just it’s just Wonderful. We talk a lot you know about controlled expansion for any brand. Um, what are some of the mistakes that you’ve seen pizza franchises or chains making they’re popping up everywhere. Um, when expanding it to say new markets Or. Maybe a new way of doing the same thing or new Concepts and and maybe hit a little bit about what what are your thoughts on expansion I Mean do you have anything that you’re looking forward to in the future. Is there anything that you have in back your mind or anything you want to share.

17:18.72

Dan Costello

Yeah I mean I think you know we’ve made plenty of mistakes I mean some of it is. It’s you know the the world’s changing and how people are using restaurants is changing. So I think you have to be in tune with that like I’m not We’re not that interested in open up the 250 see pizzeria anymore like we did back in the 80 s and 90 s right. Have to pay attention to that and sometimes you’re a little slow to to identify that trend I mean even though it’s been coming for a long time like we’re recognizing now for us to grow our restaurants. Um, you know we have to do it differently than what we than where we came from I think you know overall I’ve always been confused. When I talk to people that are in there the the restaurants side of the business particular and they tell me they’re going to a new market and they’re gonna open up 50 stores and I’m like that’s great, but like like in 2 years or 3 years and like but how do you know? they’re gonna work like you know for us, we probably take a much. This might be part of our company culture and history I mean look we’ve been in business since you know the 1947 started making pizzas and then actually the bar business goes back to 1927 so I just will probably take more of a cautious approach like open up, you know 1 to 3 stores and how they work.

18:19.56

vigorbranding

I purpose.

18:32.64

Dan Costello

Yeah, how how you doing I Just I’ve always been fascinated people open up. But again, it’s a it’s the it’s probably most of these are franchise systems are looking old. They have different. They have different desired results than we do and different desired outcomes right? So you know our desired results is when we go to a new market is.

18:38.35

vigorbranding

Yeah, yeah.

18:50.88

Dan Costello

Is this restaurant going to synergistically support and facilitate growing our frozen Cpg brand and if it doesn’t do we need to do it. You know so we have those type of conversations all time because you know the frozen the frozen brand’s growing.

18:59.67

vigorbranding

Um, right.

19:08.21

Dan Costello

And the restaurants we’ve been a little bit more stable in the last couple of years just trying to get through this pandemic and get through hiring but we’re looking at some opportunities where we think we can go to other marketplaces outside of Chicago and do the same thing we did in Chicago by tying our frozen business in our restaurants together.

19:24.87

vigorbranding

Love it.

19:27.19

Dan Costello

The the biggest kind of the biggest thing we want accomplish is build I Like how you said it earlier a few minutes ago that you know Brand is a promise right? and so that’s what we want to do we want to make sure that our brand is building trust with our consumers right? It’s a promise to them. So for both the restaurant and the cpg side. So I Think. You know with expansion too like what are you gonna do differently what?? What’s the value proposition for people and what value are you going to serve for them and we want to just be in that Position. We’re one one of the only pizza brands that we can help you whether you want to come out or you want to stay home or can be there for you right.

19:59.88

vigorbranding

And you nailed it to I obviously your goal is not to slap a sign up in every town in America and just ah pump stuff out. It’s not a franchise. It’s not ah, it’s not you know these are company-owned stores for lack of a better word and.

20:03.60

Dan Costello

Somebody else doing that.

20:17.95

vigorbranding

And I Also think it’s really really smart How you look them out as as Marketing. Ah how how they play off each other for the frozen side I think that’s ah, a really smart way to go about it. I Love that concept. It just makes to me. It makes all the sense in the world. Um, so okay, I’m going to ask you some a couple questions here and hopefully these these answers don’t get you in any trouble. So. There’s very very difficult high level pizza questions. Okay pineapple and pizza. Yes, or no all right.

20:36.19

Dan Costello

5

20:43.55

Dan Costello

Now Warm pineapple This is gross I’m sorry yeah.

20:49.49

vigorbranding

Ah, ah feels feels a little California doesn’t it all right dipping pizza and ranch dressing. Yes or no I love it. That’s right thoughts on white pizza. Okay.

20:55.21

Dan Costello

Now is the cross isn’t any good. Yeah, yeah.

21:07.39

vigorbranding

Deep dish pizza is that still pizza tough one.

21:13.12

Dan Costello

Yeah, sure I think so I’m from Chicago deep dish pizza’s pizza. Yeah yeah, yeah, ah, 2 3 times a week

21:13.53

vigorbranding

Yeah I was gonna say you could alienate some locals if that one that’s a little tough and how often do you eat pizza. Nice and and show he’s on pizza you know is that something? Yes, yeah.

21:28.50

Dan Costello

Not for me, It’s not for me. Yeah, not a lot of people in our market. Do it? Um, but yeah, we we have a little bit of it. But this not much I don’t see a lot of it in our stores.

21:39.80

vigorbranding

Yeah I think I was like ah more of a big East Coast thing and I felt like it was ah you know, maybe a whole generation ago I remember doing it I remember hearing about it I actually ordered one one time and I love pisa it like 1 of my favorite things in the world was open a box of fresh fresh pie and I did it 1 time and with anov I thought this week exciting. Want to try this. Was god forsaken and I actually like ancho he so I was like no way ever again. Never again. So.

22:00.35

Dan Costello

Yeah I just I don’t see it a lot I’m not seen it I’m not seeing it come up at that much I mean even when I was you know working in the restaurants every single day small percentage. Yeah.

22:13.43

vigorbranding

That’s funny all right? So my very last question I’m gonna actually take pizzes off the board here I don’t think he should be allowed to say that or answered with that answer. But last question if you had 1 final meal. What would you eat where and why.

22:29.14

Dan Costello

Oh man, what would I eat where and why? um, she’s I’ve had that’s probably a question I think if you ask me I it probably changes based on my time of year my mood and whatnot. But I think at the end of the day. Unk go with a steak right? You know I’m gonna go with the classic of you know, great steak and steak and fries right? not working I have that I’m not a hundred percent sure we got a lot of choices in Chicago. Um.

22:47.22

vigorbranding

This is.

22:54.12

vigorbranding

Nice there you go.

23:02.20

vigorbranding

Open.

23:02.74

Dan Costello

Gibson’s comes to mind is one of those a place that just never disappoints. There’s this place ah down the city called the vets beef just fantastic. Great owner operator there. So I think those would be a couple things that pop in my head about where I might want to spend a last meal soly I don’t have to do that anytime soon.

23:20.49

vigorbranding

I Hope not I hope not any last things anything else you want to say anything you want to leave us with.

23:21.36

Dan Costello

Night map. Yeah.

23:29.60

Dan Costello

Ah, well one and this is fun then really appreciate you having me on it. This is I think for anybody listen this first time ever been on podcast. Hopefully I did. Okay so yeah.

23:35.51

vigorbranding

He did. It was fantastic I thought it was great and I I Love you know you one of my favorite people and I always enjoy talking to you So it’s a layup right? It’s just easy.

23:43.49

Dan Costello

Yeah, this was a lot of fun. But yeah I to anybody listen keep going out to eat right? Restaurants and grory stores need you. So yeah, we’d love to keep love to keep serving it. You got Mike.

23:51.48

vigorbranding

It’s right, very cool. Fantastic Dan. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure.