By: Melissa Kress | Executive Editor
The company also adds to its fresh food ranks with two new team members.
TEMPLE, Texas — A month after debuting its expanded retail foodservice program at its McLane Engage convention, McLane Co. Inc. revealed the name and branding for its new proprietary pizza program made for convenience stores: Prendisimo
Prendisimo, which translates to “take away” in Italian, is the latest in the McLane Fresh family of brands. McLane debuted Prendisimo at the 2023 NACS Show on Oct. 4 in Atlanta with an immersive culinary experience with an of available samples and marketing materials on display for the brand.
In addition to Prendisimo, McLane also featured CupZa!, its newly launched beverage program which includes bean-to-cup coffee, cold brew, iced tea and lemonade; and new products from Central Eats including a Texas toast grilled cheese, maple sausage waffle and cheeseburger.
“Prendisimo is more than just incredible pizza. It’s a highly marketable brand that attracts and appeals to consumers, supported by the end-to-end solutions that McLane Fresh offers,” said Vito Maurici, McLane’s customer experience officer. “McLane is scaling our offerings across the board, creating programs and products that are more accessible and customizable than ever. We are proud to introduce Prendisimo and look forward to partnering with our customers to make a variety of quality fresh foods a reality for convenience stores of all sizes nationwide.”
As the McLane Fresh program continues to grow, the company added to its team member ranks. Anne Hughes and Jeremy Reinicke have joined the team as category director, fresh food and commissary, and corporate executive chef, respectively.
With more than 15 years of experience working with quick-service restaurants and retailers, Hughes brings fresh ideas and proven marketing expertise to the expanding program, while Reinicke’s extensive professional culinary experience will invigorate menu innovation for the program.
“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. “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-based McLane Co. is one of the largest supply chain services companies in the United States. Through McLane Grocery and McLane Foodservice, it operates more than 80 distribution centers and one of the nation’s largest private truck fleets, and provides alcoholic beverage distribution through its subsidiary, Empire Distributors.
McLane is a wholly owned unit of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Source: Convenience Store News