By Tracy Morin
The humble roots of Chicago-based Home Run Inn (HRI), inducted into PMQ’s Pizza Hall of Fame in October 2010, stretch back to a 30-seat tavern opened by Mary and Vincent Grittani. Their son-in-law, Nick Perrino, had served overseas in World War II and inspired them to start selling pizza in 1947. Named after an errant baseball that flew through the window from a nearby ballpark, HRI eventually grew to seat 500 people.
Nick’s son, Joe Perrino, kicked off HRI’s expansion in 1987, when he convinced his father to open a second tavern-style pizzeria in Darien, Illinois. Today, six HRIs are scattered across the Chicagoland area, with its Woodridge, Illinois, commissary making all of HRI’s dough and sausage daily to maintain consistency. The company is still owned and operated by the founding couple’s great grandchildren. Five family members actively work in the business today, including Nick Perrino, Joe’s son and chief revenue officer, and a fourth-generation family member as CEO, Dan Costello.
But HRI pizzas have spread far beyond their Chicagoland home—into all 50 states, thanks to the company’s frozen pizza line, pioneered decades ago. “We started making 50 frozen pizzas a day in the early 1960s for people to put in their iceboxes,” Nick says. “As demand grew over the years, so did our production. Today, we’re producing and selling 23 million frozen pizzas a year.”
How else is HRI keeping up with the times? In this exclusive interview, Nick shares how the company is meeting customers’ needs today—and continuing to innovate and grow for tomorrow.
PMQ: What are the biggest challenges HRI is facing today, and how is the company addressing those challenges?
Perrino: The biggest economic challenge is the cumulative impact of higher prices on our consumers. Household budgets remain under pressure, and we see our customers increasingly thoughtful about where and how often they spend. We have worked hard to maintain accessible price points and have largely avoided raising prices, but we are still seeing the effects of a more cautious consumer—sluggish transaction growth in our restaurants and modest unit growth in our frozen business.
The solution is that we need to continue building a more distinctive brand and do a better job helping people understand where Home Run Inn fits into their lives—whether that’s going out for pizza with family and friends or having a great pizza at home. If we can build greater awareness and familiarity with the brand and give people more reasons to believe in and think about HRI, we are confident we have a real opportunity to grow both sides of our business.
The technology challenge/opportunity is with the utilization of AI in support of our people, but it starts with getting our data foundation right. Today, our data is fragmented across different systems and functions. We’re working to create cleaner, more connected and more accessible data sets that can become a trusted source of information for the business. Once that foundation is in place, we can increasingly use AI to automate workflows, surface insights, and help our teams work more efficiently.
To work through this challenge, we’re investing in some really good outside thought partners who are helping us connect the data, break down the silos and build the right foundation. Once we get that right, it will open up a lot of opportunities for us to improve workflows and help our people gain better business insights. Ultimately, we see that as creating value for our guests. As we gain insights, we can pass the value along to our guests.
PMQ: As a legacy brand, what marketing efforts are working best for you today?
Perrino: We have found that grassroots marketing efforts are the most effective. We know that once we get people to try our product, they will taste the difference and become raving fans. Our focus has been on demos, word-of-mouth and social media influencers. We continue to always look for new ways to drive trial and awareness, and we are excited for our new chapter with our marketing agency partner, Quench. We have a lot of exciting things to come!
PMQ: How does HRI balance operating the pizzerias with the frozen business? What has made both aspects of the brand successful for so many years?
Perrino: The restaurants are the soul of our brand, and the frozen pizzas are the engine. The restaurants help keep us on trend and help us stay close to the consumer. We are able to test things in the restaurants, and if they work, we try to scale that pizza recipe for mass production.
We know that it is extremely challenging to try and mass-produce a frozen pizza that tastes exactly like our pizzas from the tavern. Over many years, we have perfected our frozen pies to mirror our restaurant tavern pizzas. We realize that the only way to build customer loyalty is to create a super consistent product, day in and day out. We never take shortcuts, and we always use the best ingredients. This formula helps us build trust with our loyal fans and love from the communities we serve.
PMQ: Like most of our Pizza Hall of Fame inductees, HRI is involved in community efforts. How does HRI give back?
Perrino: Giving back has always been an important part of who we are at Home Run Inn. As a family-owned Chicago business, we believe our role goes beyond serving great pizza—it’s about being there for the communities that have welcomed and supported us for generations.
Today, we bring that commitment to life through food donations, partnerships with local schools and nonprofits, support for youth programs, and participation in community events. That has included distributing more than 10,000 pizzas to Chicago Public Schools students, volunteering together to pack meals with Feed My Starving Children, and our annual tradition of bringing pizza and toys to children at Lurie Children’s Hospital.
Over the years, we’ve had the privilege of helping feed more than 1 million people. While we’re incredibly proud of that milestone, the number itself isn’t what drives us. It’s the people and communities behind it. Giving back is our way of showing our gratitude and continuing to support the communities that have supported Home Run Inn for generations.
PMQ: How does HRI balance innovation with staying true to its roots?
Perrino: We are always looking to innovate, but some things never change. Pizza customers still love cheese, sausage, sausage-pepperoni, and pepperoni. Those varieties continue to be our top sellers today, just like they were in 1947.
PMQ: What are your growth plans for HRI?
Perrino: We want to sell 50 million pizzas [annually] within the next 10 years. We continue to focus on doing the little things well. We believe if we can build momentum on trial and awareness across the country of our brand, then the sky will be the limit!
See our coverage of Home Run Inn in the November 2026 issue of PMQ Pizza.
Tracy Morin is PMQ’s associate editor.
