When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S., shoppers began to frantically stock up on select food products. Due to its convenience and comfort-food appeal, frozen pizza was a top choice, and retailers soon found themselves with dwindling supplies as American society braced for the worst.
As essential businesses, food manufacturing continued where possible, and in the suburbs of Chicago, that included the area’s Home Run Inn frozen pizza manufacturing facility. By the middle of March, the facility had ramped up to a seven-day production schedule, shifted workers from its temporarily closed restaurants to work in the frozen production facility, and raised output up by one-third compared to before the pandemic.