HORTON, MI - Pizza for breakfast just received an upgrade.
Little Caesars is trying out a new breakfast sandwich, called a pizzini, to rival options from fast-food chains like McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell. Only about 10 locations are piloting the idea, with the only one in Michigan being at 196 Moscow Road in Horton.
The Horton Little Caesars is an express location and shares a building with a BP gas station. With constant business at the gas station, it made sense to have a breakfast option available.
The biggest issue is spreading the word, said Manager Gary Summers. The restaurant just started offering breakfast in the last two weeks.
"The people that we get in the door, they love it," Summers said. "I've got repeat customers that come in. It's just getting them in to try it. The usual consumer doesn't correlate breakfast with Little Caesars."
Breakfast is available from 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. There are three options: egg and cheese; bacon, egg and cheese and sausage, egg and cheese. The outside of the sandwich resembles other Little Caesars crusts, but is unique to the sandwich.
"It's a specific crust that we use. We don't offer that type of breading in any of our pizzas," said Jason Rennie, a restaurants and operations director with Corrigan Oil. "It's very comparable to any other breakfast sandwich that you're going to get out there. And then our price point is based off value."
Customers can get one sandwich for $2.99 or two for $5. The items are so new, Summers and Rennie don't even have the nutrition information yet.
"I was skeptical when I first heard," Summers said. "Breakfast, really? But when I tried it, I was like 'Ooh, it's a great product.' People that try it, they come back."
There is no timeline for the pilot product, although Summers said he hopes sales will sustain it. Many of the about 10 locations in the country with the pizzini are in the southern U.S., Rennie said.
"We're just trying to capturing a piece of the market that we're not capturing," Rennie said. "It's still so new."