Chicago pizza chain Lou Malnati’s is moving its headquarters into a facility in Buffalo Grove that will also house production and shipping for its mail-order pizza business.
The 50-year-old company aims to begin making pizzas in the roughly 125,000-square-foot site in the northern suburbs in early spring, said Lou Malnati’s chief real estate officer Sasha Milosavljevich.
Lou Malnati’s wanted to consolidate its operations on a single site, while staying close to its current headquarters in Northbrook, he said. While the company’s restaurants make pizzas on site, frozen pizzas shipped to customers through its Tastes of Chicago business are made at a production facility in Little Village then trucked to a fulfillment center in Wheeling.
“It’s a lot of handling. This will optimize our operations,” Milosavljevich said.
Tastes of Chicago also ships items from a range of Chicago food and restaurant brands, like Eli’s Cheesecake, Vienna Beef, Portillo’s and Garrett Popcorn Shops.
The company expects about 100 employees will work at 900 Busch Parkway in Buffalo Grove, with more during the seasonal rush around the holidays. Lou Malnati’s existing facilities will gradually close over a few months once the new facility opens, Milosavljevich said.
Milosavljevich declined to comment on the company’s sales but said growth in the Tastes of Chicago business was “a catalyst” for Lou Malnati’s move.
Online food ordering and frozen food sales jumped during the pandemic as consumers avoided restaurants. Pizza was no exception: frozen pizza sales were 2% higher over the year that ended July 3 compared with the same period the prior year, according to data from research firm NielsenIQ. Overall frozen food sales were up 7%.
More recently, that growth has slowed, with frozen pizza sales down 9.5% during the three months ending July 3 compared with the same period last year. Overall frozen food sales declined, but sales of some products, like breakfast sandwiches, cinnamon rolls, meat alternatives and dessert bars rose.
Lou Malnati’s, which opened its first restaurant in 1971 in Lincolnwood, has more than 60 locations in the Chicago area, Arizona, Indiana and Wisconsin. Earlier this year, Bloomberg News reported the chain was exploring options including a sale of the company or bringing in a new investor.
Milosavljevich declined to comment on reports the company was considering a sale.
