Did You See What Else Is “Rising” In Pizzerias?
Yes things are more expensive now than they were a few years ago. Yes oil prices are out of control which has caused gas prices to go up, up and up! Airlines are charging their customers for everything now. Starting with a snack, headphones (that you can keep), an exit row seat (yes that is more) and of course a surcharge to check your bags in at curbside.
Prices are going up everywhere! Did you know that a block of cheddar cheese a year ago was $1.17 per pound on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange? Do you know what it is today? Up a whopping 78% to $2.08 per pound. What exactly does that mean? Think about what types of food that use cheese. Think about what type of food has lots of cheese. For me, it’s pizza. I really like pizza. Actually I love pizza! Especially Chicago deep dish pizza.
The pizza business is a 30 billion business that might get to 31 billion with not many more customers. Why you ask? Because if cheese is going up, don’t you think that pizzerias are going to charge more for pizza? Makes sense.
In fact Pizza Hut and Papa John’s International have raised the price of their cheese-only pizzas to the same price as one-topping pizzas at company-owned stores. Papa John’s uses about 100 million pounds of cheese each year, and the cheese typically makes up 35 percent to 40 percent of the food cost in making a pizza. If 35% of the food cost is cheese and cheese costs are up 78% over the past year – logically the cost of pizza has to go up.
I put gas in my car as a necessity. I need to get around and frankly I’m too lazy to walk 12 miles to work. I jump on a plane out of convenience and because I need to be somewhere quickly–again out of necessity.
Buying pizza is a little different. Buying pizza is a choice. I love pizza, I couldn’t do without it. I think I should let Pizza Hut and others in on a little secret. Come closer…a little closer. You could raise your pizza to $35.00 a pie and I for one would still buy it! Others might say no thanks…but not me. I will continue to buy pizza and for me the rising cheese costs, which lead to higher pizza costs, might be a nice benefit – shorter lines!
- Do you love pizza?
- Would you pay anything for a pizza?
- If pizza prices went up 30%, would you stop buying it?
- What’s your favorite pizza restaurant?
I look forward to your thoughts and comments.
August 31st, 2007 at 12:42 pm
My household LOVES pizza and going up 30% unfortunately probably would not stop us from purchasing it. Our favorite pizza is from a local restaurant in Lincoln, NE called Valentino’s which is located right next to the college campus (everyone should experience a Big Red home game and a Val’s pizza at least once!)…so good in fact, once a year my niece and her family from Houston come up to watch a Nebraska game and I order frozen pizzas and have them shipped down so we can all enjoy! (A little pricey…but worth every penny!)
September 7th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Ah, Pizza. Merrill, who knew that we would share more than one obsession?
Yes, I am definitely a big fan of pizza and the very word causes my eyes to glaze over the way Homer Simpson’s do when he says the word “Donut”. Pizza is there anything it can’t do.
When it comes to Pizza, I’m pretty old school. I’m not a big fan of the California “designer” pizzas, or the St Louis “flat” style with “Provel” cheese. Chicago Deep Dish is good, but the crust usually is too bland for my taste. I like a good chewy crust with real mozzarella and sausage and pepperoni.
Saturday night at Casa Graham has always been pizza night a tradition that continues even though we are now empty nesters.
Of course, NYC is pizza heaven and it’s rare that you find a bad pie there. I remember a small pizza shop in Brooklyn (Jes’s–no longer in business) that was everything a pizzeria should be. It was run by a young Italian guy who barely spoke English and his wife and infant son were always there. He made a great pie, but he knew where his priorities were. One Saturday night, I tried to place an order at 4:00, but he was closing because it was the day of San Gennaro festival.
The best kept secret in the Pizza World is Buffalo, NY. Sure it’s know for it wings (and to a lesser extent for Beef on ‘Weck) but it has a great pizza style: the crust is chewy and the sauce bites back (this makes it somewhat different from NYC pizza). Before you die, you have to get a pizza from Bocce Club (you can order them on-line, but I don’t think they’d be nearly as good). Also good is Santora’s. His kids opened up some shops serving Buffalo style pizza in Las Vegas, so those of you heading there for the AMA Conference take note.
You also usually find good pizza in college towns: Stephano’s in Knoxville, TN is a good example: good red sauce and a wheat crust. Highly recommended.
For those of you with a pizza obsession, I direct you to the great blog “Slice”: http://slice.seriouseats.com/ where you will not only find great evaluations of pizzerias, but even a iPod down-loadable walking tour of the Pizzerias of NY.
September 10th, 2007 at 7:29 am
Bob,
Thanks for your comments - I didn’t realize you love pizza that much. I will print out your list and make sure I take it on upcoming trips.
Maybe one of these days we can share a pie together while are Sox are winning playoff games this year!
Merrill
September 11th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Hello Merrill!
I too am a pizza lover, although I am not as into buying them these days since slimming down. I have always been a deep dish pineapple and canadian bacon sort. Papa Johns has always satisfied along with an Italian joint that I used to frequent years ago in Huntington Beach Ca. called ‘Grivetti’s’. Their pizzas were Le Magnifique!
I wish to throw out a bigger stat question. Of the billions that pizzerias make selling pizza and ditto the cheese, what percentage of all that $$$$$ comes from one day? Yes I refer to Super Bowl Sunday! In fact, dare I say that watching college and pro football make Sat/Sun the two best days for sales/delivery? Shall I even include the Friday night lights of high school football? Does Texas have the biggest amount of pizza ingestion? I am guessing Philly! Again just some thoughts.
Take care friend!
September 12th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Willie,
Interesting question - I actually started to try and figure it out and than I decided why not Google the question - here is what I found:
Domino’s will deliver about 1.2 million pizzas on Super Bowl Sunday — nearly twice as many as on a regular Sunday. Little Caesars will push its Party Pack promotion: four large pizzas for as little as $20 in some areas. And Papa John’s expects its business will jump 70% in some areas — one reason CEO John Schnatter says he’ll put on a smock and work in a shop that day.
But perhaps no one embraces the Super Bowl more than Pizza Hut, the world’s most powerful and influential pizza seller. On Super Bowl Sunday, the company will unveil what it considers its biggest product idea in years: four square, topped-to-order pizzas in one large pizza box, which, at $11.99, costs about the same as a regular large pizza.
That information is from 2004 so i am sure the numbers are higher in 2007.
nice topic.
Merrill
June 11th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
This just in…I’m in Seattle on business and found, unexpectedly, GREAT Pizza. It’s from a place called Pagliachi’s and it is wonderful! Delicious thin crust-chewy, not hard like a cracker and great sauce. I’d put it on my top 5 pizzas list!
June 12th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Bob,
Thanks for the heads up - I can’t wait to try it.
Merrill