Two Chefs and Marketing Guru Walk Into a Bar (or, What the Freak is Pizza Freak: featuring Brad Daniels, Matt McKenney, and Brad Kilgore)

Welcome back to Pizza Quest!

This episode is a case study on how to create and bring a new product to market. The product is called Pizza Freak, and the team members behind it are Brad Daniels, Brad Kilgore, and Matt McKenney or, as I like to call them, two chefs and a marketing guru. What you will learn in this episode is how a Detroit-inspired frozen square pizza went through the journey from idea, to product, to getting it on the shelves. I’ve tasted it and it is pretty special — a frozen pizza with chef-inspired aspirations that really delivers on its promise. It’s a product that required innovation at every level of the process and, hey, they have pulled it off so far — but the story is still unfolding!

The two chefs, Brad Kilgore and Brad Daniels (Brad and Brad) are the real deal, with resume’s  and restaurant successes that firmly establish their bona fides (you’ll hear all about their various restaurant projects during the conversation), and Matt McKenney is the marketing and branding partner who represents a number of advanced-level cooking tools and products. What started out as a “what if” passion project turned into Pizza Freak, as they all realized, “We’ve got something special here.” For anyone who has ever dreamed of taking their signature food products (you know, the ones that all your friends and family tell you should be turned into a business or a restaurant, not realizing the challenges of such a task) this episode is for you, as the Pizza Freak team shares the many lessons learned during their five year quest, which is patiently finding its way onto a shelf (or click) near you. When Pizza Freak finally tips over and goes big, remember that you heard about it here first. Enjoy!