1. Describe how taking risks to increase its operational capacity turned Home Run Inn pizza into the top player in the frozen pizza industry.
2. Why is Home Run Inn able to compete at prices higher than its rivals?
3. Why has self-distribution been so beneficial for Home Run Inn? Do you think it would be successful for every manufacturing company?

Home Run Inn’s frozen cheese pizza is considered tastier than the fresh deep dish and original pizzas from Domino’s and Pizza Hut.Home Run Inn is a family-run business with headquarters in Chicago.In the 1980s, Nick’s son Joe Perrino, currently the president and CEO of the business, realized that they needed to expand if they wanted to grow. He began to look at ways to improve the organization’s operations through automation.Soon, demand for Home Run Inn pizzas began to eclipse supply. Home Run Inn was unable to meet this demand with its current capacity due to manufacturing limitations. Perrino decided to purchase a cryogenic freezer that freezes using CO2 gas. The result was far worth the money spent. Perrino states, “We were able to produce pizzas three, four times as fast as we were currently doing with fewer people, so that really set a light bulb off in our heads.”Two years later, the company built a new facility to keep up with demand. Home Run Inn pizza uses all-natural ingredients and its homemade sauce, sausage, and cheese. These all-natural ingredients have enabled the company to differentiate its products, allowing it to have higher prices compared to competitors and still retain high demand.In 2002, the company partnered with former Kraft CEO Jay Williams to self-distribute its pizzas. Until then, Home Run Inn frozen pizzas were stored in warehouses and then distributed to retailers.Self-distribution required the company to have its own fleet of trucks to deliver the pizzas to the retailers.