Pizza is a beloved staple enjoyed by people of all ages and backgrounds, making it a key area of focus for Midwest Dairy. Midwest Dairy has achieved success by collaborating with partners in the pizza industry. Research indicates that American families have a strong fondness for pizza, which ranks among the top five most-ordered menu items. Approximately a quarter of Americans consume pizza at least twice a week, and pizza restaurants use more cheese than any other type of food establishment. With this dedicated audience, Midwest Dairy can drive even more dairy sales through menu innovation with our pizza partnerships.
Marco’s Pizza
In 2024, Midwest Dairy partnered with Marco’s Pizza to bring dairy innovation to consumers. Marco’s Pizza is one of America’s fastest-growing pizza brands, particularly among Gen Z. With 1,222 stores across 35 states, the chain is recognized for its handmade dough, fresh cheeses, and Italian-American cuisine.
In response to customer demand for new flavors, Marco’s teamed up with Midwest Dairy to develop Carolina Reaper Cheese—a much-anticipated spicy flavor that was previously missing from their menu. This initiative aimed to attract new customers and boost sales. We addressed customer demand by introducing new menu items featuring the limited-time Fiery Flavors Spicy Cheese. This cheese was available in Marco’s Specialty Pizzas, Pizzoli, Cheesy Sticks, and Pizza Bowls.
The campaign launched on June 18 and ran until August 4, 2024, focusing on TV and digital ads in key markets for six weeks, along with website promotions and enhanced order platform features. Midwest Dairy and other regional dairy checkoff organizations funded social media and email messaging to boost sales. Fiery Flavors was the second phase of Marco’s rebranding campaign, which launched in April with the slogan, “But wait, there’s Marco’s.” The new items were featured on Marco’s website and platform until September 2024 before becoming permanent menu staples.
The campaign results indicate that this menu upgrade was successful. Over 93 million emails were sent during the campaign, and paid media delivered over 30 million impressions. Marco’s website received over 650,000 clicks for the Fiery Flavors items alone! Some stores reported an overall increase and saw a 2% rise in new customers. The customer return rate exceeded 14.9%, outdoing their typical single-digit benchmark.
Overall, the partnership drove over 2,000,000 incremental pounds of milk.
Pizza Ranch
In 2022, Midwest Dairy partnered with Pizza Ranch for the second time to enhance its classic appetizer, Cheesy Ranch Stix, by doubling the cheese on this customer favorite. The item was so popular that Pizza Ranch kept this extra-cheesy item on the menu after the promotion. Midwest Dairy partnered with them again in early 2024 to launch Loaded Cheesy Ranch Stix, which allowed Pizza Ranch customers to add other toppings to the Cheesy Ranch Stix.
During a February to April promotion, customers could add up to two toppings and extra cheese to their Cheesy Ranch Stix. Available for takeout and in-store dining, this menu innovation was promoted through digital ads, social media, direct mailers, and email campaigns. Pizza Ranch prominently featured the Undeniably Dairy logo, resulting in nearly 57 million impressions. Nearly 30% of takeout orders included the Cheesy Ranch Stix, increasing cheese usage by nearly 600,000 additional incremental pounds of milk.
Midwest Dairy and Pizza Ranch partnered again at the end of 2024, responding to consumers’ demand for value amid a challenging economy. They emphasized affordable prices, high-quality food, and discounts while promoting the use of cheese from local dairy farmers.
To enhance online ordering, Pizza Ranch introduced a special online deal available at 140 locations: two medium single-topping pizzas, a small order of Cheesy Ranch Stix, and a small Cactus Bread for just $20. This exclusive deal was promoted through digital channels, including Facebook ads, email, and app marketing.
The campaign also featured a social media post featuring an interview with Adam Maassen of Maassen Dairy, near Orange City, Iowa, where Pizza Ranch is headquartered. In the video, Adam discussed his family’s fifth-generation dairy farm and its sustainability practices, including cow care. This video reached 26% more people than any other boosted post related to the offer, reaching over 650,000 impressions.
Godfathers
Godfather’s Pizza, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, partnered with Midwest Dairy for a dairy-focused campaign in December. The campaign highlighted one of the key ingredients in Godfather’s Pizza—cheese. It featured two themes: one boosting brand awareness and thanking dairy farmers, and the other showcasing the abundance of cheese toppings available on their pizzas and other menu items.
Godfather’s Pizza promoted the campaign through emails sent to 50,000 loyalty members, digital creatives displayed on in-store menu boards, and campaign messages included in their traditional advertising schedule. They also utilized social media, their website, and in-app push notifications. Overall, their consumer marketing efforts generated over 1.5 million impressions.
In November, the Larson dairy farm family from Creston, Nebraska, was invited to join the Godfather himself for lunch, and a photo shoot featuring them was included in the campaign. This connected consumers with the people behind the delicious cheese that tops their pizzas. Additionally, Godfather’s Pizza customers received 500 extra points for purchases made during this campaign.
Godfather’s Pizza tracked the purchase of block cheese that was shredded on-site for their traditional franchisees and monitored the movement of shredded cheese. This campaign resulted in 865,440 incremental pounds of milk sold over Godfather’s typical cheese usage.