Dive Brief:

• McLane Company has launched a proprietary pizza program called Prendisimo, according to a Wednesday announcement.
• The distributor also announced two leadership appointments within its McLane Fresh foodservice division: Anne Hughes as category director for fresh food and commissary, and Jeremy Reinicke as corporate executive chef.
• The new appointments as well as the introduction of McLane’s pizza program, which took place at the NACS Show in Atlanta this week, add momentum to the distributor’s recently launched foodservice at retail program.

Dive Insight:

McLane is once again utilizing an industry trade show to generate excitement for its newly developed foodservice program, McLane Fresh. The company debuted the program at its own McLane Engage show in August, and introduced the industry to its new beverage program, CupZa!, as well as healthy grab-and-go options from its hot foods platform, Central Eats.

Now the distributor is adding to this lineup a branded pizza program. Prendisimo pizzas ship frozen to retailers, who can then heat up the pies in a matter of minutes, according to McLane’s website.

Pizza is a proven foodservice category for c-stores, with companies like Casey’s and Wawa offering fresh-made options in their stores. Casey’s offers numerous options made in-store, including a recently introduced thin-crust variety, while Wawa launched its pizza program this summer. 

To help build its foodservice program McLane has tapped two experienced culinary professionals. Hughes has more than 15 years of experience working for quick-service restaurants and retailers. She spent nearly three years as a product and brand manager for Dairy Queen and nearly four years in menu development roles with Buffalo Wild Wings, according to her LinkedIn bio. Hughes also spent more than seven years with Target, first as a senior merchandise specialist and then as a senior project coordinator.

"Anne and Jeremy share in our vision for the future of convenience, and their skills, experience and perspective will help bring that vision to life," said Farley Kaiser, McLane's senior director of culinary innovation, in a statement. "We are excited to have these incredible additions on board the McLane Fresh team as we build on the momentum of our core brands to ideate new products, programs and extensions for our customers."

Temple, Texas-based McLane, which was founded in 1894, serves over 110,000 c-stores, mass merchants and restaurants. It has more than 80 distribution centers across the U.S. and employs more than 25,000 people.