&pizza has always been a chain with a cheeky sense of humor, so when it first announced a pizza/taco hybrid on social media, the timing was apropos: April Fool’s Day.
They were just kidding around. But what started out as a joke soon morphed into a popular new LTO—a Mexican-Italian mashup called the Za’Co. And it’s now a weekly Taco Tuesday special for the Washington, D.C. brand.
The Za’Co’s success proves that it pays to listen to your customers.
Due to fans’ enthusiastic reaction to that April Fool’s joke—along the lines of “heck, yes, I’d actually eat that”—&pizza ended up testing the item for three days as a Cinco de Mayo promotion. From May 3 through 5, the Za’Co was offered at the brand’s stores in Barracks Row in Washington, D.C.; Woodbridge and Arlington, Virgina; the Federal Hill neighborhood in Baltimore; and the Rittenhouse neighborhood in Philadelphia.
According to a press release, “The response was so overwhelming that it’s now going nationwide (at all &pizza shops) as a weekly Tuesday special.”
Each Tuesday, guests can get a flight of three Za’Cos (in any combination) for just $10, including:
- The Dirty Bird: spicy buffalo chicken, jalapeños, ranch and blue cheese
- American Honey: sweet heat with hot honey, cup-and-char pepperoni, goat cheese and red pepper flakes
- Elote Loco: Roasted corn, grilled onion and elote sauce
The Za’Co is a bold mash-up that’s right on trend with flavor-first comfort food, and the brand is leaning into the fun with a weekly ritual that flips Taco Tuesday on its head.
“The other guys do boring pizza quite well,” Mike Burns, CEO of &pizza, said back in May. “When it comes to the stuff we come up with here at &pizza, the crazier it is, the better chance it has of making the menu. Za’cos were simply an April Fool’s joke, but relentless messages across all our socials begging us to make it happen teed up the ultimate ‘hold my beer’ moment for our director of culinary. Fast forward a few weeks later, and here we are.”
