By Tracy Morin
Hungry Howie’s, based in Madison Heights, Michigan, with about 500 locations, has been known for its flavored crusts and focus on value since its opening in 1973. But with strategies like a secret menu and AI-powered restaurant management platform, this historic chain is also determined to keep up with the times.
Recently, the brand announced its new Flavor Experience, a “repeatable innovation platform” being tested first in its home market of Detroit. In the platform’s debut activation, Hungry Howie’s brought back its Coney Pizza for one day only on National Coney Dog Day, July 30—the first time the specialty pizza was available in more than 20 years. In the future, the new platform will be dedicated to similar limited-time specials and nostalgic fan-favorite comebacks, popping up at Hungry Howie’s locations nationwide. The brand’s goal is to bring “unexpected and fan-driven menu moments to communities across the country.”
And, in a game-changing update for online customers, Hungry Howie’s is also unveiling a DoorDash-powered digital ordering overhaul. PMQ asked Jennifer Jackson, vice president of public relations for Hungry Howie’s, to explain more about these initiatives and how they meet modern consumer demand.
PMQ: Tell us about the new Flavor Experience platform. How does it benefit the brand and its customers?
Jennifer Jackson: Hungry Howie’s Flavor Experience is our new platform dedicated to limited-time specials and fan-favorite comebacks. After more than 50 years in business, we’ve built up incredible equity with nostalgic menu items, Detroit roots, a devoted fan base and a signature Flavored Crust that nobody else can claim. We wanted a permanent home for that, instead of treating activations as one-offs.
Innovation has been in our DNA since we invented Flavored Crust itself, and Flavor Experience simply gives us a repeatable framework to keep that going. Sometimes it’s bringing back something guests never stopped asking about, and sometimes it’s introducing a completely new item. Today’s pizza customer wants to be surprised and rewarded, and this platform is built for exactly that—giving guests a reason to keep paying attention. And it can also give our franchisees a steady cadence of ready-to-execute activations that drive traffic and conversation.
PMQ: With Detroit serving as the test market for Flavor Experience, what metrics will determine whether the platform is successful enough to roll out nationally? What have you learned so far in the process?
Jackson: We measure Flavor Experience’s success through sales lift during the activation window compared to a typical day; guest engagement across social and our Secret Crust Society channel; earned media pickup; and—just as important to us—how smoothly franchisees can execute it in-store. Detroit is the right proving ground, because it’s our home market, and our fans here have a deep, personal connection to the brand. So if an idea can generate real excitement in Detroit, we feel confident about its potential elsewhere.
What we’ve already learned from the Coney Pizza activation is that nostalgia is an incredibly powerful driver when it’s authentic and tied to a real occasion. Pairing the comeback with National Coney Dog Day gave people a reason to act now rather than someday, and that urgency translated into meaningful buzz for our brand. We’ll take those learnings into how we plan and pace future Flavor Experience activations. Flavor Experience is designed to eventually pop up at Hungry Howie’s locations nationwide, bringing these fan-driven menu moments to communities across the country, and Detroit is where we’re building the playbook for what that could look like.
PMQ: When does bringing back legacy products make more sense than introducing entirely new menu innovations—and how do you balance the two?
Jackson: Legacy items make the most sense when they’re genuine and have ongoing demand behind them, and the Coney Pizza was one of those menu items fans never stopped asking about. We believed it deserved a proper comeback. When guests are still talking about a product 20 years after it left the menu, that’s a signal, and bringing it back lets us create real emotional connection with lower operational risk, because we already know people want it.
Innovation is how we push the category forward, reach new occasions and daypart opportunities, and show that Hungry Howie’s isn’t standing still.
Flavor Experience is designed to let us bring back fan favorites like the Coney Pizza, while we also launch items, like Detroit-Style Pizza, that permanently stay on the menu. Balancing the two is about giving guests something familiar to be excited about for a limited time, and something new to be curious about.
PMQ: Tell us about the brand’s recent DoorDash-powered digital ordering overhaul. How will digital ordering change or evolve?
Jackson: We recently announced a partnership with DoorDash that goes well beyond a typical delivery relationship. DoorDash is helping us rebuild our website and native app, power a reimagined loyalty program and consolidate our technology stack. It’s all in service of modernizing the ordering experience across our owned digital channels while also maintaining our presence on the DoorDash marketplace.
For Hungry Howie’s guests, that means a more streamlined ordering flow, easier navigation and checkout, improved mobile usability, and a new loyalty program launching in 2027 built around bankable points. We’re also unifying reviews, feedback and surveys into a single Guest Experience Management system, which gives us a much clearer, faster read on guest sentiment.
For franchisees, the value is about simplification. Systems will operate as one unified platform, with a phased rollout designed to bring in learnings from early markets and support each franchisee through the transition as we work toward having every location on the new platform by Q2 2027.
PMQ: How does the Flavor Experience platform build on the Hungry Howie’s Flavored Crust legacy?
Jackson: We invented Flavored Crust pizza more than 40 years ago. It’s been the foundation that everything else at Hungry Howie’s is built on, and we offer eight free crust flavors standard on every pizza. It’s the reason guests associate our name with flavor before anything else.
Flavor Experience takes that same spirit of flavor-first thinking and applies it to the rest of the menu, giving franchisees new reasons to create buzz locally without having to build a campaign from scratch every time. It also gives us a natural way to pair new activations with the crust customization that franchisees already know how to sell—so every Flavor Experience moment reinforces the differentiator that built this brand in the first place, while still feeling fresh and newsworthy in the local market.
PMQ: How important is demonstrating innovation when recruiting prospective franchisees in today’s competitive pizza landscape—and how do you see that landscape evolving?
Jackson: Consistent innovation is one of the first things prospective franchisees look for now, because it’s proof the brand behind their investment is still hungry for growth, not standing still. Years ago, candidates were mostly asking about build-out costs and initial investment. Today, we’re fielding a lot more questions about our marketing plan, our digital ordering and loyalty technology, and how corporate helps them stand out in their local market.
Detroit-Style Pizza is a good example of what that innovation delivers, and it’s already accounting for 8% to 9% of our pizza sales systemwide. That’s the kind of proof a candidate evaluating the brand wants to see. We believe that Hungry Howie’s is still one of the best-kept secrets in franchising. We have more than 50 years in business, a proven model, and we’re actively targeting growth in states across the Southeast, Midwest and beyond.
Looking at the pizza landscape overall, guests are more value-conscious and digital-first than ever, but they’re also hungry for brands with real personality, not just the lowest price. The “Pizza Wars” have pushed a lot of the category into competing on price alone, and that doesn’t build loyalty or sustained sales momentum. In the next few years, I think the brands that pull ahead will be the ones that pair strong owned digital and loyalty experiences with a menu identity guests can’t get anywhere else, and that’s exactly the position we’re building toward.
PMQ: How does Hungry Howie’s balance providing value as well as innovation while maintaining healthy profits?
Jackson: Value and innovation aren’t competing priorities for us, because they work together. Our Flavored Crust has always come standard at no extra charge, which sets a baseline of value competitors often can’t match. And when we bring back something like the Coney Pizza, we price it approachably, so it feels accessible rather than like a premium upcharge.
Also, our innovation pipeline includes larger, brand-building moments, like the national Detroit-Style Pizza launch that let us capture guests looking for something new and authentic. The investment we’re making in digital ordering and loyalty through our DoorDash partnership is ultimately about efficiency, too—reducing friction and cost to serve so that value for guests and healthy margins for franchisees can coexist.
PMQ: Looking ahead, how will the Flavor Experience continue to evolve?
Jackson: We built Flavor Experience to be a permanent fixture, not a one-time campaign, so guests can expect it to show up multiple times a year, tied to meaningful moments, the way the Coney Pizza was tied to National Coney Dog Day.
It’s really part of how we continue to highlight flavor as a brand, alternating between nostalgic comebacks and new menu innovation so that longtime fans and new guests have a reason to pay attention. As we take learnings from our home market, our hope is to expand the platform to communities across the country. As it matures, we want to make it just as easy for franchisees everywhere to execute, with the tool kits and support to turn each Flavor Experience into real local traffic and excitement.
Tracy Morin is PMQ’s associate editor.
