Riko's Pizza is leaning into the chicken trend this summer with five new limited-time offerings under its 'Pollo di Buon Gusto' banner, running at all locations from June 8 through September 30, 2026. The Stamford, Conn.-based tavern-style franchise is rolling out two specialty pizzas, two new wing flavors, and a chicken slider — a broad menu sweep designed to give operators multiple daypart and check-size opportunities within a single promotional window.
For franchisees, a cohesive five-item LTO package like this can simplify back-of-house execution while still giving front-of-house staff plenty of upsell options. Bundling wing flavors with specialty pies and a slider also creates natural combo opportunities that can lift average ticket without requiring significant new ingredient investment — a particularly relevant consideration for operators watching food costs in a still-volatile commodity environment. Those managing menu strategy and food costs will recognize the value of chicken-anchored promotions, given poultry's relative price stability compared to beef.
Riko's describes itself as a "highly differentiated" tavern-style pizza concept, and the chicken focus aligns with broader protein-forward menu trends that have gained momentum across casual and fast-casual segments. Chicken continues to outperform other proteins in LTO adoption across the industry, making it a lower-risk vehicle for seasonal menu refreshes.
The nearly four-month promotional window — June through the end of September — also gives franchisees a long enough runway to market the items, train staff effectively, and capture summer and early fall traffic before a likely Q4 menu reset. For a franchise system, consistency across all locations during that stretch is key to making the LTO investment pay off in both brand recognition and franchisee-level sales lift.
For broader context on how emerging franchise pizza concepts are positioning their menus for growth, Food & Beverage Magazine has tracked the continued premiumization of pizza as a category, with operators using LTOs to test flavors before potential permanent menu additions.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.