Menu Expansion Adds New Creamy Parm Pizzas and Gives Guests More Variety
- Donatos Pizza franchise added two new pizzas made with its Creamy Parm Sauce.
- The menu update gives guests more choices and a fresh twist on classic favorites.
- Franchise owners benefit from strong customer interest and new easy-to-promote items.
Serving up new menu items with creative flavor combinations helps restaurants stand out from their competitors, because diners crave variety. Donatos Pizza, known for its thin-crust pizzas with generous toppings, understands the importance of enticing customers with a unique take on a popular dish and is debuting two new pizzas featuring Creamy Parm Sauce — the Chicken Vegy Parm Pizza and the Bacon Spinach Parm Pizza.
“The new Creamy Parm offers a delicious alternative for guests looking for something beyond the traditional red sauce,” Donatos Pizza Chief Marketing Officer Jodie Conrad says. “This menu expansion is all about giving guests more ways to enjoy their favorites.”
Creamy Parm Sauce is also a choice for the “create your own pizza” option, which allows for maximum personalization of orders. “Now, with even more customization options, families are sure to find something to enjoy at Donatos this holiday season,” Conrad says.
A People Focused-Business
Donatos Pizza is a family-owned business founded by Jim Grote in 1963 in Columbus, Ohio, where he ran the company as a people-focused business. The company and its franchise partners now operate more than 179 stores and are in hundreds of Red Robins across the nation, but as the business has grown, Donatos hasn’t lost sight of its defining values and the need to balance profit with purpose.
The Donatos Family Foundation was launched in 2022 to help focus philanthropic efforts and amplify the impact in the community and nationwide. The Foundation centers around three core pillars: housing, hunger and health. Together, the pillars reflect the most pressing needs of the communities served.
Donatos partners with Habitat for Humanity, which empowers families to build safe, affordable homes. Each Donatos corporate and franchise location works with its local Habitat chapter, ensuring that funds raised stay right in the community. Similarly, franchisees partner with local food banks to help those in need with food scarcity.
The health pillar includes partnerships locally advocating for mental and physical wellness by partnering with the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Behavioral Health. Associates at the Home Office raise funds for Pelotonia, which helps advance groundbreaking cancer research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. In Columbus, the brand’s home market, they sell Cheryl’s Cookies, and all the proceeds go to Children’s Hospital. This is matched in other markets across the country where they partner with local hospitals and medical research facilities.
Commitment to Innovation
Even as Donatos Pizza honors its legacy, the company relies on a forward-thinking business model that capitalizes on digital tools to improve efficiency and drive profit. For example, Donatos uses predictive technology to meet customer expectations for speed and accuracy of digital orders. Delivery time estimates provide customers with realistic timelines, while demand-forecasting tools help franchise partners schedule drivers effectively. Order routing ensures that food is hot and fresh when it arrives.
Online and mobile ordering make up an essential part of the business model. Donatos’ website and user-friendly app streamline the ordering process, making it as frictionless as possible, with choices for drive-up pickup, curbside delivery, traditional carry-out or on-demand delivery.
Grote has worked hand in hand to push operational innovation. The company’s kitchens are designed for speed and volume so that workers can keep the food moving smoothly during peak hours. Donatos Pizza continues to innovate every step of the pizza making product from the cheese ring, that helps eliminate excess food waste, to most recently, a completely autonomous pizza vending machine. This efficiency enhances guests’ dining experience and encourages repeat business, which is a critical component of franchise partners’ long-term success.
Donatos Pizza Franchise Opportunity
With strong franchisor guidance and a variety of adaptable store layouts, Donatos Pizza gives franchise owners the flexibility to succeed in virtually any type of building. Whether it’s a standalone restaurant, a smaller-format, or a space within a multi-tenant retail center, Donatos gives the flexibility to open in a variety of locations.
Previous restaurant or business management experience is a definite plus but is not a requirement as long as the prospective franchise owner is committed to top-quality customer service. Donatos provides comprehensive training for franchise owners to give them the best start possible and assists with finding the best location for a restaurant. A field marketing manager will help develop a multimedia plan for promoting the franchise, while a franchise business consultant will offer ongoing support and advice once the location is up and running.
Learn more about the Donatos Pizza franchise opportunity.
