Hungry Howie's Wins Award for Most Innovative Product Design

Hungry Howie’s recently won one of Franchise Update's annual Franchise Innovation Awards for Most Innovative Product Design. In celebration of 50 years in business in 2023, Hungry Howie’s expanded its menu by adding the interactive “Secret Menu” to its portfolio, a hidden selection that featured five new offerings for guests to discover in a new way. The Secret Menu in 2023 included a variety of new, customized pizza offerings available exclusively through a QR code displayed on Hungry Howie's pizza boxes and in-store cash registers nationwide.

This interactive component unlocked the five Secret Menu pizza options in 3D and redirected customers to an online ordering page with their chosen items. Each item on the menu paid tribute to the brand’s 50-year history while offering new options for customers to enjoy items outside of its regular menu. Items included five different flavor combinations like the ‘73 Classic, Tie Dye, Howie 5-0, The Greektown, and Disco Inferno Crust pizzas.

Hungry Howie’s sold 49,334 pizzas from the Secret Menu across all stores systemwide in August 2023, resulting in more than $515,000 in sales and 1.42 percent of total sales. The Secret Menu’s popularity created an increase in social media engagement, as a post of the Tie Dye pizza on Hungry Howie’s Instagram page saw a 2,500 percent increase in “likes” compared to recent posts.

The Secret Menu initiative was so successful that Hungry Howie’s has continued and expanded the menu in 2024. HERE is a video of Hungry Howie’s executive vice president of marketing Rob Elliott discussing the success of the Secret Menu at the Franchise Customer Experience Conference.