Home Run Inn
In 1923, Mary and Vincent Grittani named their tavern Home Run Inn after a winning run from a neighborhood baseball game shattered the front window their newly purchased establishment. For nearly twenty five years, their South Side Chicago business remained a small neighborhood bar where Vincent served the drinks and Mary prepared the meals.
In 1942, Nick Perrino married their daughter, Loretta Grittani. Like the rest of the thousands of World War II soldiers who returned to civilian life, Nick was searching for a way to support his family. His need was met in 1947 when he formed a partnership with his mother-in-law, Mary Grittani. Together they developed the recipe for Home Run Inn pizza, as it is known today, after receiving requests for their delicious pizza from tavern patrons.
The second Home Run Inn restaurant opened in 1987 in Darien, Illinois, under the leadership of Nick and Loretta Perrino's son, Joe Perrino. Over the next two decades, Home Run Inn opened six more pizzerias in the Chicagoland area.
In the late 1950s, Home Run Inn was one of the first companies to expand into the frozen pizza business. Home Run Inn built USDA manufacturing facilities in 1987 and 1996 to keep up with the growing demand for their pizza. In 2002, Home Run Inn President/CEO Joe Perrino, and his family partnered with Jay Williams to form a direct store delivery distribution company called Power Play Distributors.
Today, Home Run Inn continues as a family owned and operated business staying true to the original pizza recipe using only the finest ingredients when making their legendary pizzas. The family's determination, hard work, and pride they feel in serving a quality product has brought Home Run Inn from a small corner restaurant, to a pizza empire. Home Run Inn currently sells frozen pizza in about twenty states nationwide. In the spring of 2012, the Home Run Inn family will open their ninth restaurant in the Chicagoland area.
